>B 195 .14 ^opy 1 SILO PROFITS WRITTEN BY 200 OF THE BEST FARMERS IN AMERICA SILO PROFITS A COMPILATION OF FACTS AND FIGURES All tifllxts x>eserve«i« PUBLISHED BY INDIANA SILO CO ANDERSON, IND., U.S.A. ■^■w'>'ia INTRODUCTION The idea of this publication is to provide those who are not receiving' the benefits of the Silo with such definite and detailed in- formation as will enable them to more intelligently consider the sub ject from their own individual standpoints. We realize the immense benefits to be derived from the use of this feed and labor saving' device. We believe that lacK of knowl- edge of these benefits must be the chief cause why more of them are not in use. Knowing these things, and believing that those who have had experience are the best qualified to give the desired information, we issued the following letter to a number of our customers : We have concluded that the best way to find out the actual results, in dollars and cents, of the use of the Indiana Silo,' is to asK the men who use them. To maKe this more interesting we are off ering prizes as mentioned belo-w. This letter is being sent to a few^ of our best customers and you have a good chance to win one of the prizes. Here it is — THREE PRIZES -GO IN AND GET THEM First Prize $25. OO Second Prize 15. OO Third Prize lO OO These prizes will be given for three best articles written by users of Indiana Silos as to the profit they have made by their use. Below are given a few^ pointers as to the features they will be judged upon. No articles should contain more than five hundred ■words. The more specific the article, the better. Preference w^ill be given to articles that give exact figures as to profits shown by the use of Silos. No attention -whatever will be paid to literary features of articles, so lacK of experience in writing need not Keep any one out of this contest. An additional $5.00 w^ill be given to the successful con- testants if article is accompanied by a photo of self, herd, or barn and Silo, that can be used for a cut to print with the article. The articles will be published in book form and a copy of same will be sent to each contestant. Help us to help you and v/e will have a book of helpful information. Give us the facts as to AAfhat your Silo has done for you and you have just as good a chance to w^in a prize as any one. Do it now as -we will not call your attention to it again. Yours very truly, INDIANA SILO COMPANY. We have received a great many responses to this letter. These were referred to Mr. DeWitt C. Wing, associate editor of "The Breed- ers' Gazette," who passed on them and awarded the prizes. The articles winning prizes are the first three reproduced. Mr. Wing came to his decision, so he later said, largely from the fact that the win- ning articles appeared to him more comprehensive of the many ad- vantages of the Silo. It was promised that we would reproduce these in booK form, and we take an even greater pleasure in doing this than we could have anticipated. We can understand how it was Mr. Wing had so great difficulty in deciding just where to award the prizes. The arti- cles are all excellent. We accompany some of them with photo- graphs and we commend to every farmer, whether he is a user of the Silo or not, the most careful reading of these contributions. One matter of extraordinary interest to us in regard to these articles is the diversity of their points of view. Each contributor has treated the Silo, its uses and advantages, out of his own experience and to an extent very unusual, we think, each contributor has some fact or some method of treatment that gives a distinct value to his contribution, and makes it so that the reader w^ill not know all that the Silo will do unless he reads all of these articles. In view of this w^e believe that not one of these articles should be overlooked by any farmer, stockraiser, or dairyman, and we assure our friends that all of them taken together make a book that is most comprehensive in regard to the Silo, a book that will be most profitable, to any farm- er whether he have a Silo or not, and withal a book that will be of surpassing interest to all w^ho are in any w^ay connected w^ith the feeding business This in mind, w^e take great pleasure in publishing this book- We dedicate it to our thousands of customers jwho are now using Indiana Silos, and w^e send it to the contributors and others w^ho may desire it as an evangel of the Silo as the modern feeding device, and the promise of more profit and better things for the farmer, stock- raiser and dairyman. THE INDIANA SILO COMPANY. ANDERSON, INDIANA FIRST PRIZi: ARTICLE [ndiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Have been feeding silage ten years, but the last bunch of cattle we fed illustrates the value of a silo better than any one experi- ment we ever made. Father bought of a speculator, scalper as it were, 17 heifers, culls left over from the Monday's Chicago market on a lump sale, and as usual in such a case, got the cattle too high. When we weighed them they cost us 4c per pound, when they should have cost from 3 to ZYz^ per pound, but to make the best of a bad bargain we put them on a full feed of silage, and fed them 60 days and sold them on the Indianapolis market at $4.65 per hundred, which made us a little money. We fed them a little shelled corn along during the time which I charge in the following statement which shows for itself: Cost of cattle laid down here — 17 heifers — 9,500 lbs $380.00 Twelve tons silage fed — 30 lbs, per day Sixty-four bushels corn at 60c — 2c for hauling 37.12 Total cost without silage which grew on one acre ... .$417.12 Cattle weighed 11,500 at $4.65 $534.75 Less commission and proportional freight 15.50 $519.25 Less cost of cattle and corn 417.12 Received for 12 tons of silage $102.13 This 12 tons of silage grew on one acre and was put into the silo at a cost of $8.40, leaving a net value of one acre of corn crop $93.73, as compared with the corn that we sold on the market from the strip adjoining as follows: 65 bu. per acre at eOc, $39.00, with an expense of 5c per bu. for husking and drawing to market, leaving $39.00 — $3.25 — $35.75 the net value of the acre ad- joining as compared with $93.73. I count the trouble of feeding them as balanced by the manure. If these cattle had been bought right at 3' 2C per pound, we would have had $47.50 more to show for one acre of corn put up as silage, or $141.23. With this fact before us we will try to get the entire corn crop into silos as soon as possible to arrange for it. We, also, appreciated the silo during the drouth of 1908, which was esceciallv severe here in this section. We had ensilage to feed our Brood Cows until the 1st of June and filled the silo the last of September and commenced feeding it immediately as the pastures were burned up, and our cattle went into Winter in good shape. We feed it to everything, cattle, horses, hogs, sheep and poultry, and have good results. We are feeding a lot of 15 cows, with young calves, silage 40 pounds per day, and what clover and alfalfa hay they will eat, and they are in better shape than when they started in the Winter. It is Maurice Douglas. surprising how little hay they eat. I have built three silos of different makes. The last an Indiana, one piece stave silo, which has proven very satisfactory — so much so that every wooden silo in our county is an Indiana with the improvement of continuous doors, etc. As a conditioner of show cattle we think it has no equal. We opened our silo the 1st of December, and have fed 40 sheep, 50 head of cattle, 10 head of horses, poultry ever since, and think we have enough on hand to feed until May 1st. I have fed my breeding stallions silage, and they are shedding coats March 1st. In fact, to do without the silo and farm economically on $125.00 per acre land, would be feeding at a loss instead. Since writing the above, have had 18 inches of snow, and others had to ship their cattle as they could not haul their feed to the cattle, while I figure we made our greatest gain at that time as our silage was all ready at any time to teed. Silage is harvested at a time when the weather is good and a maxi- mum amount of labor can be obtained for the regulation price, and we are sure anyone who has the nerve to build a silo will never regret it. Boys: — Since writing the above I found the estimated cost of feed- ing our cattle here at this farm the year before we put up the silo^ and the year after, which bears out the statement I have always made that we could burn the silo and rebuild every year and be money ahead. Year Before: Seventy-five head short horns — from Dec. 1 to May 10, consumed 2,500 bu, corn at ^Oc $1,000.00 Hay, 100 tons, at $12.00 1,200.00 $2,200.00 Year After We Built Silo: Cost of 10 acres corn silage, 65 bu. acre, 40c per bu. . . .$ 260.00 Cost of putting up same 84.00 Hay, 20 tons at $12.00 240.00 1 ,000 bu. corn at 40c 400.00 $ 984.00 Balance in favor of the Silo, $1,216.00. That looks too good to be true, but when feed is high that is when it pays, regardless of being able to feed frosted corn to an advantage. M. DOUGLAS, Flat Rock, Ind. se:cond prize article It is a general conceded fact that ensilage is an excellent feed for dairy cows, but that it is also a grand feed for beef cattle is not so widely known. We have used an Indiana Silo in the feeding of beef cattle for several years with most excellent results. Two years we fed large steers, and the remainder of the time light butcher heifers. I have at hand the exact figures for last year's feeding, and will give them, as last year was about an average year. Some years we made somewhat less and some considerably more. The last of November we bought on the Chicago market a carload (30 head) of 510-lb. heifers. They cost laid down in Centerburg, all ex- penses paid, $3.22 per 100 pounds. These heifers were fed ensilage morning and evening, and a little clover hay at noon the entire time until sold, receiving no other feed. On May 3 we delivered them to the Howell Provision Co., Newark, O., at the scales one mile from our place. They weighed 652 lbs. each, and we received $4.75 per 100 pounds. Below I give an itemized statement of costs and receipts. J. Paul Long's Calves, Centerburg, Ohio. Receipts: 19,560 lbs. cattle at $4.75 $ 929.10 Costs: 15,300 lbs. cattle at $3.22 $ 492.66 Rent 9 acres of iand at $3.00 27.00 Plowing 9 acres of land at $3.00 per day 18.00 Harrowing two days at $3.00 6.00 Planting and seed 4.50 Cultivating three times at $3.00 per daiy 12.00 Use of engine r 2 days at $8.00 12.00 Use of ensilage cutter 1' 4 days at $3.00 4.50 Slack coal for engine 1.00 Ten men 1' 2 days at $1.50 22.50 Board of men and teams 1 1 2 days at 20c per meal 7.80 Total costs $ 607.96 Receipts $ 929.10 Costs 607.96 Net profit $ 321.14 It will be noticed that I do not charge anything to clover hay eaten by cattle. This charge is fully offset by ensilage fed to milch cows and horses. Neither do I charge anything to labor of feeding cattle or interest on money invested in cattle, silo, barn, etc. This charge being entirely offset by scores of loads of rich manure hauled out on land. I fed the cattle practically all the ensilage they would eat, so they ate but very little hay. Ensilage fed to dairy cows will, of course, make a larger gross profit than when fed to beef cattle, but also entails a much larger amount of labor. This much net profit from nine acres of poor corn (the land having been in corn four years successiveliy), seems almost impossible, but is rendered possible by two facts, first, when fed through a silo the entire corn plant is utilized, there being no enormous waste as when fed from shock, and second, when put in an Indiana Silo there is no waste of ensilage at sides and doors as there is in many other silos of inferior con- struction. The experience of silo users in this neighborhood is that an Indiana Silo will a great deal more than pay for itself every year it is used in net profits, J. PAUL LONG, Centerburg, Ohio. THIRD prize: article Lndiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I have two Indiana Silos, and think they are a great help. The value of silage over dry feed can be rated as almost double. Its importance rests upon its succulence; like grass, a natural feed, it keeps the animal in a healthy condition, maintains the vigor of the cow while producing a large flow of milk. It is economical because there is no waste, the stock eats it clean. The same amount of land will produce more silage Isaac L. Jeffries and One of His Favorites. than any other feed. There is no loss in curing. It adds fertility to the soil because the manure is richer than that produced from the dry feed. Its greatest value is shown in dairy lines. By having two Indiana Silos filled with corn ensilage to feed my cows, I make as much butter in the Winter time as I do in the Summer when the cows have grass to eat. For rearing calves it is without an equal. Of the crops that are best for silage to my mind, corn is best. To get the best results from corn for silage it should be cut when the grain is going out of the milk state and is beginning to harden. If cut too green the silage is apt to become sour; if cut over-ripe it will be hard and woody. An acre of corn will produce from 15 to 20 tons of silage. Ensilage will lose its value if allowed to mold which will be the case if unused for a number of days. Therefore, it is best after beginning, to use at least two or three inches each day. More cows can be kept from a given acreage, if fed ensilage, than from one-third more acres if fed dry feed. Until the feeder can find a food equal to corn ensilage for even twice the cost, he had better seriously consider the silo. Under present condi- tions I believe that one-fourth of all the farmers keeping stock in the corn belt will find the silo an economic acquirement. An acre of corn put in the silo I value at $55.00, while the same corn standing in the field and husked in the usual manner I value at $27.00. This is accounting for all cost of harvesting. Then an acre in the silo is worth two in the field, or putting it another way the silo doubles the value of the corn crop. I am in a company that owns a cutter, and, in filling, we have one man to drive the harvester, six teams to haul corn, four men in the field, three in the silo, and two to feed the cutter. When we have to hire help we pay $2.00 per day for the engine and men to run it we pay $5.00 a day. If we had to hire all the help it would cost $37.00. We filled my two Indiana Silos 12 by 24 and two-foot basement in ten hours. Sincerely yours, ISAAC L. JEFFRIES, Westfield, Ind. FOUND PROFIT FEEDING DRY COWS. Indiana Silo Co., Andebson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I wanted a silo for years. One day the Agent for Indiana Silo came to my house, the Wild Rose Farm, and I became a purchaser. I ordered a Southern Pine Silo, 16 x 30. Before the order was filled I changed it to a fir silo at an increase of $100 in cost and have never regretted the change. We were a little late in getting our silo up in 1908, and were further delayed in getting cutter. All the corn and sorghum that was green enough for ensilage was not sufficient to fill the silo more than two-thirds full. We began feeding at Christmas. Tlie spoiled silage on top was less than six inches. We had topped much green sorghum. We fed a lot of steers, calves and dry cows. The cows cost $32.00 a head. In February we sold the cows at 5 cents and they averaged $60.00 a head. The calves were sold at public sale on March 16 and made as high as $38.00 per head. They were fed all the clover hay they would eat at noon and ensilage night and morning. The calves cost an average of $19.00 in Sep- tember. We also fed young mules and work horses. After the sale we fed our cows until May 15, and they made little change when going on big grass. In 1909 we cut 10% acres of heavy corn, which filled the silo to the top. We again topped with green sorghum, and the filling was done in a day and a half. The whole cost for 140 tons was $400.00. (Our foundation is 4 feet deep and adds considerable to the capacity.) Having sold the farm, lo give possession February 1, we put in Jersey cows and heifers and began feeding ensilage on Thanksgiving or a few days before. They were two weeks getting on full feed. February 1st we held our sale. The Jerseys made a profit of $15.00 a head on forty head, and half the entire lot of silage was left and in the best condition. So that we count that the silo paid us handsomely. We are now looking for another farm with an Indiana Fir Silo or one on which to build such a silo. I think it is one of the best investments a farmer can make. HOWARD H. KEIM, Ladoga, Ind. 9 INCREASED PROFITS 150 TO 200 PER CENT. Indiatsa Silo Co., A.nderson, Ind. My Dear Sirs: — I have used an Indiana Silo for six years and find its use profitable in several ways. For tlie following reasons I freely recom- mend the Indiana Silo, manufactured by the Indiana Silo Company, of Anderson, Ind.: First: For their convenience in feeding. It is much more convenient and comfortable and expeditious than to go out in the fields in cold, stormy weather to haul teed. Second: I find that the use of the silo avoids the loss in the two changing periods i. e., from grass to dry feed in the Fall and dry feed to grass in the Spring. This is because ensilage is a natural, succulent feed similar to grass. I always had a heavy shrinkage at these periods before I bought the Indiana Silo. Third: Before I bought the Indiana Silo, my ground produced 35 to 40 bushels corn per acre. Now it produces GO to 75 bushels per acre. Potatoes averaged about 100 bushels per acre. Now I get about 200 bushels per acre. These results were brought about by the different and better methods of handling the manure. Formerly I fed in the barn lot, and the coarse manure was not available for fertilizing for a year or more. Now, by using a silo I am enabled to produce more manure with same number of stock and haul it direct to the field. Hence the principal elements — nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, are not bleached out and washed away. I consider this quite an item. Fourth: Since using the Indiana Silo I can carry about twice the number of stock on the same amount of tillable land — about 90 acres, and do it with less labor. At the same time the fertility of the soil is in- creasing. Before 1 bought the Indiana Silo I carried 15 to 18 head of cattle, 3 or 4 head of horses. Now I carry 30 head of cattle and 7 head of horses and some other stock Fifth. I find that my cattle go on grass in the Spring in much better condition than they did before using the silo. Sixth: Last, but not least, my profits have increased from 150% to 200% more than by the old method of feeding. MARTIN KULL, Moundsville, W. Va. P. S. — By feeding clover hay with the silage, my cows produce as much milk as they do on grass. M. K. GRAIN SAVING PAYS FOR SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Andeksox, Ixd. Gentlemen: — 1 became interested in a silo in the summer of 1908, and visited your factory with several of my neighbors and gave my order for a 14 X 24 before I left the factoi-y. I had more than satisfactory results with its feeding that fall and winter and find it of equal value for summer feed. From Jan. 1st, 1909, to Jan. 1st, 1910, I produced from an average of ten cows 10,189 gallons ot milk, for which I received $1,291.28 at my barn. It does not take one-half the ground feed since I have my silo. I am satisfied the silo will pay for itself each year. Since feeding ensilage I can safely say that I save 3 lbs. ground feed per day for ten cows which for 365 days would equal 10,950 pounds which, at $l.(!(t per 100 pounds would net me a profit of 3109.50 in a year in grain alone, and that does not near tell the story. I take off my hat to a good bunch of cows fed from an Indiana Silo and properlv cared for by their owners. Yours truly, JNO. E. HOLLINGSWORTH, JR., New Augusta, Ind. 10 MY EXPERIENCE WITH AN INDIANA SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. In the early part of 1905 I began to investigate the different kinds of silos, both those made by manufacturing concerns and those put up at home. At that time I had never seen an Indiana Silo, but I saw their ads in reliable papers, and, after some correspondence, I decided that was the silo for me, and I have never had reason to change my mind. I bought a 12x30 long leaf yellow pine with twelve hoops. The cost of erection was almost nothing, something less than $.j.OO, everything fit- ting perfectly or as one of my men said, "You would think that silo had been put together a dozen times." It may not be true everywhere, but here in my locality the greatest objection to silos is the cost of filling. My experience is that it is the cheapest way I could harvest corn. Of course I know we work our corn up a great deal closer here in Penn- sylvania than through the West, but I also know it would be to the interest of the farmers everywhere to make better use of their corn, especially the stover, and this can l)est be done by use of the silo. One year with another on my soil and in my climate it takes about six acres of corn to fill a silo of this size (80 tons). The first year I hired all my help, including teams, and it cost $40.00 to fill. Since that I have changed more with neighbors and have filled as iow as $20.00 cash. Can any farmer prepare any other kind of feed for his stock at from 25 to 50 cents per ton. Compare this with husking, shredding, cribbing and grind- ing. In the latter case you lose the green, luxuriant quality of the fodder, also, the losses by weather, mice and extra handling. Some of my friends have said to me, "I don't see but what you buy as much mill feed as you did before you bought the silo." I think I buy more, but I keep more live stock and get enough better returns from them that I can well afford to buy. I make more money and the farm has more manure. One should not forget that when you fil. a silo with corn its contents is corn, and to get the best results you must add the necessary protein to balance the ration. All silage is not a good ration any more than corn meal, and corn stalks fed alone are a good ration, but you can well afford to make the necessary addition. My home feed dealer says he has noticed that when his customers with silos come to town for feed they always have the money to pay for it. All in all I don't think any farmer with live stock and corn can afford to do without a silo, "An Indiana Silo." On September 11, 1909, fire destroyed my barn, silo and feed, but the plans are made for another barn, and that barn will have a silo, and that silo will be an Indiana. N. L. KINGSLEY, Edinboro, Pa. SILO SAVES TEN TONS OF HAY A YEAR. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Yours received asking how I liked my silo. I got it in 1907, four men set it up and had one hoop on in 0V2 hours. I con- sider it saves me 10 tons of hay every year. The first year hay was $15.00 a ton. That was $150.00 saved, in 1909 it was $10.00 a ton, that's $100.00. In 1910 it is $12.00 a ton, being $120.00 saved. In the three years it saved me $370.00, or about that. In 1909 I filled twice and opened Oct. 1st. Used about half and filled again Nov. 24th. I am very much pleased with it and would not sell it for anything if I could not get another. Yours for success, NATHAN BAXTER, Central Square. N. Y. SHOULD CONCERN EVERY FEEDER. Dear Sirs: — To whom it may concern, and it ought to concern every cattleman, every dairyman and every farmer who raises a good many Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. cattle. The silo 1 bought of the Indiana Silo Co. last Fall has far excelled my expectation. I filled it with corn to the top, and left it stand until about the loth of November, then opened it and began to feed it, and must say that that was the best feed I ever fed to dairy cows. My cows did better this Winter, both in milk and in flesh, than they did last Summer on the best of tame pasture. My cows are all in a good shape for beef. Have sold four dry cows for beef, and could have sold all that I have at a large and long price, and I must say that it was the ensilage I fed to my cattie that put them in that shape. I used to think I could feed cattle, but I knew nothing until I erected a silo. I am so well pleased with my silo that if I ever move to a farm that has no silo on, I will erect one as soon as I can have one filled, or, if I should enlarge my dairy so I should need another, I surely would erect another Indiana Silo. I must say, Hurrah, for the Indiana Silo Co., The Manufacturers, and its users. Thanking you for past, favors, I am. Yours truly, U.S.KRAFT, Akron, Ind. WHAT A GOOD COW WILL DO. LxDiAN.v Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen; — Yours of the 14th at hand. I herewith give you a few facts in regard to my silo. I am very enthusiastic over feeding silage to milk cows. In the first place I save 25% in harvesting expense, and I figure I save 40% in the corn crop as the cows eat every bit of the crop. It is the most palatable feed I ever put before my cows. It keeps their digestion perfect and enables them to digest and gives them a much better appetite for roughage, thereby giving me a much larger flow of milk. For example: I have one cow eleven years old that has always given a good flow of milk, but three years ago I bought an Indiana Silo and she has nearly doubled her flow of milk. Up until two years ago she never gave over 7,000 pounds of milk in one year, but in J 90S she gave 10,182 8-10 pounds, f.nd she is doing about the same this year. Her average test for 1908 was 4%. butter fat, making 407 31-100 i)ounds. Average price. SOVoC $ 1 24.22 Add to this 8.5% of skim milk at 10c per 100, makes a total of 8.64 $ 132.86 This is more than double the amount I ever got from her before I com- menced feeding ensilage. I keep 10 to 14 cows, and this is the experience with all of them. The past year I have milked 10 cows and they brought for milk at our creamery, .|1,043.81, besides the skim milk furnished. Also, milk for two families, and made our own butter for six months. I weigh all of my milk and keep a record of each cow and know just what each cow is doing all the time. I could not think of keeping cattle and dairy cows in particular, without a silo filled with good mature corn. Yours very truly, W. W. KNAPP, Watervliet, Mich. ENSILOS ALL HIS CORN. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In reply to yours of the 22nd inst. I wish to say your silo is about one of the best on the market. We bought one of you two years ago. Year before last we did not use it on account of not having corn enough to lill two, but this year we filled it to the top. When we started to feed this fall we were surprised at the small amount of decayed matter at the top. There was not more than two inches while on the other silo W3 used to have from six to fourteen inches. We think that the Indiana Silo is tighter fitted so as to exclude all air. Now I will give some profits which we made by buying the silo. Truthfully written three years ago before having two silos we raised 22 acres of corn. It was good corn, giving from 50 to 75 baskets an acre. Well we got half of it shocked before the frost, part of it being put into the one silo. The rest was frozen, and we shocked it as it was. We husked it and put the corn in the crib, and the stalks in the barn. In the spring after feeding it all winter we found that most of the stalks in the middle of the mow had decayed, and the cows would not eat half of it. The corn in the crib was the same, half of it was worthless, as it had decayed. Now what I want to say is that if we had put this corn and stalks in a silo, we would have had twice as much profit from the feed. We have 12 head of milch cows and 11 head of young cattle, and this year we have all our corn in the two silos and nothing went to waste. I believe farmers can just as well have two silos and raise a little ear corn for own use and put the stalks in a silo than to have one and let some of it go to waste. A few farmers in the vicinity have corn shocked in the field yet standing in the snow. Half of this goes to waste before spring, and is bad feed for a dairy cow. Yours truly, NICHOLAS KREUZE, Hudsonville, Mich. SEVENTY-SIX DOLLARS PROFIT IN ONE MONTH. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Dear Sirs:— In regard to the Indiana Silo, we think it is one of the best on the market. We bought and put up one of your silos in 1908. It has more than paid for itself in feed saving. We will give you some exact figures. Our largest milk check before we bought an Indiana Silo for any one month from 15 cows was $150.00. For December, 1909, we received a $183.50 milk check, fed 2,200 lbs. of .milk to calves, used 300 lbs. for table use. We got $1.70 per hundred for milk, which would foot up $226.00 from 15 cows, a difference of $76.00 when using silage from an Indiana Silo. We are breeding and raising full-blooded Holstein cattle. We keep from 35 to 50 head of cattle on hand and our silo, 14 x 30, holds enough to feed them through the winter with a few cow peas. We save at least 400 bu. of corn each winter by using an Indiana Silo. At present prices, 60 cents per bushel, this is $240.00. Our young cattle do not get any grain except what they get in silage, and all look sleek and fine. Before we got our silo we fed about $50.00 worth of mill feed per month, but now about $15.00, a saving of $35.00 per month. The Indiana Silo is one of the greatest feed savers that we have tried. We don't see how any farmer with as many as 10 good dairy cows could afford to be without one. Yours very truly, G. W. WISE & SONS, Beaver Creek, III. P. S. — We will send you a photo of our cattle in a few days THIRTY-SIX CATTLE ON THIRTY-TWO ACRES. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In reply to yours of the 15th in regard to what the silo has done for me, will say if I can help others I am glad to do so. Enclosed you will find photo of barn and silos. I am on a farm of 32 acres which I purchased in 190.5. My first crop was rather poor. The next year it was better. I kept 12 cows and 2 horses and had to buy about $100.00 worth of rough feed. For years I had wanted a silo, so the fall of 1907 I bought my first silo, which was 12 x 24. It took four acres of corn to fill it. Seeing I had lots of feed in sight I bought 12 more cows, making 24 head, and 3 horses, and bought about $150.00 worth of rough feed. I was so well pleased with the silo that the next year 1 put up the second Indiana Silo, this one 14 x 30. That fall and winter I had 24 cows, 1 bull and 11 heifers, all on full feed, with my 3 horses, and bought only $20.00 worth of rough feed. At present I have 16 cows, 16 heifers and 1 bull on full feed and will have plenty feed to run until March 15, then will sell my heifers and cows for the sum- mer. So you see I have doubled my dairy, besides the feeding I am doing, and raising all the feed on my little farm except some mill feed, which all dairymen have to buy. Barn and Silos on Mr. Draper's Thirty-two Acre Farm. I consider the silo the only protttable way to handle a corn crop, either tor milking or feeding. The heifers which I fed last year did splendidly. Made a gain of about 200 lbs. in ninety-five days on silage alone. Theyf cost me 3 cents per lb. and sold for $5.20 per hundred. The ones I am feeding now are doing fine. They look like June grass-fed stuff. In conclusion, I will say to the men who are in doubt about building silos, go ahead and buy one, and buy one large enough, and the Indiana Silo, of course. Yours very truly, W. E. DRAPER, Wayne, 111. 14 A VETERAN'S EXPERIENCE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Dear Sirs: — Yours of the 19th at hand. Have not the least idea ot getting prize. Am glad to have a chance to give my views and experience with my Indiana Silo. Have filled three times and don't consider the silo owed me one cent after two years' use. Can't give figures, but have been leeding stock ail my lite (am now 60 years old), and have always kept abreast with new modes for feeding grain and fodder. Have been shred- ding for a number of years, and think I know pretty well about how far the feed goes in different forms, and the result upon the stock of the dif- ferent ways of feeding the corn and fodder. After going through the first winter in feeding silage, was convinced that is the best way to handle the feed. Always in feeding the dry feed my stock would get restless as Spring approached, and if not watched close, would be breaking out for a bite of something green. Since feed- ing silage have no trouble of that kind. If were younger would have another and feed silage to all kinds of stock. I put my silo up in 1907. Then there were very few in this vicinity, not more than four. I think since then there has been about twelve put up in this one neighborhood, and I think one or two more years will see one on nearly every farm. Would say, however, some of the silos are the Ohio, not all Indiana. Think you can see by what I have written in an off-hand way that I am well pleased with my silo and wherever I can will speak a good word for you. Hoping for a prosperous year and that your sales will double, I remain, Very respectfully yours, BEN KIRBY, Bloomington, Ind. CONTENTED AND HAPPY. Indiana Silo Co., Andeeson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In August, 1908, I erected one of your silos, 12x30, and put in about six acres of fairly good corn. I have no way of weighing so cannot give exact figures, but kept 16 head of cattle for six months. Cat- tle, hogs, hens and horses are quite fond of it. I never had stock do better on so little grain before or cows pay so well as they have since I have the silo. I have filled it again in fall, 1909, and am having my stock do even better than ever before. Cows that came fresh in the fall are now milking 30 to 40 pounds of milk per day on just every day ordinary feed and ensilage, with two or three quarts, or five or six pounds of feed per day. February 1st, 1910, my milk checks have averaged about an even $25.00 per week for the winter from seven milk cows, at an ordinary milk station. Before I put up the silo my milk checks averaged about that per month. I had one cow that did not make good in milk, so I fed her right along and sold her for beef for $40 00. My brother sold one for $50.00 for beef a little later, and others even better. Now, who can do that with dry feed? Farmers that are satisfied, contented and happy are those with Indiana Silos well filled with good ensilage. Stock never stops growing in winter to wait for spring. Milch cows do not have to spend all their time and strength pressing dry hay and corn fodder into a small amount of milk, but, like their master, are contented and happy. The people that have no silos are the ones that say that dairying doesn't pay. No wonder it does not with feed way out of sight, unless you have some nice ensilage to go with it. Yours. GEORGE HUBBS, Kirkville, N. Y. 15 PREFERS ENSILAGE TO JUNE GRASS. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Dear Sirs: — I have been in the dairy business for nine years, and I was for seven years without a silo. Two years ago I bought a silo 18x24 from you, which I found in a good shape and it was very easy to set up. Jt was also just as you represented it to me. The planks in the silo were No. 1. I can honestly say to you that the first seven years of my dairying I did not make enough to pay my expenses out of my cows, as feed was too high to buy. I bought three tons of bran and hominy meal altogether in a month, and this I fed to about 24 cows. Since I have fed ensilage I am only Filling Frank A. Hinners' Sil Osgood, Ind. feeding one ton of bran to 34 head of cows in the same length of time. That is two more cows than what my silo will feed for six months, but I think it will feed them six months. I opened my silo the first of November and I found the ensilage in it all right, and it will feed my cattle till the first of May. I can honestly say with my ensilage I am saving $40.00 a month in grain feed, and I am sending more milk now than I ever did. Ensilage is better than June pasture and every farmer should have an Indiana Silo, for it is a money rnaker to him if he has many or few cows. I will also send you a photo of my silo and my silo filler with the crew with which I filled nine of your silos. Yours truly, FRANK A. HINNERS, Osgood, Ind. SIX COWS EARN MORE THAN TEN. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — We have an Indiana Silo and are more than pleased with it. The silage is just fine. Made more money from six cows than we did the other years from 10 and the cattle look so much better and we get a good deal more manure, which is good for raising better crops. We in- tend to have another silo in a few years, for they are fine. Yours truly, J. B. KOESTER, Effingham, 111. 16 OLD TIMER PREFERS NEW WAY. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Dear Sirs: — I received a communication from you people that you would give prizes for the best essay on silos, and I suppose that means in all its parts. Well, to begin with the first essential, I bought an Indiana Silo from the Indiana Silo Co., and it is good yet, and if I should buy an- other, I would buy the same kind. In putting up a silo the peope should be very careful to stay them well at the bottom and top. Our silo b'ew off the foundation in parts. However, we got it back without much trouble, but there were several others around here that blew down altogether, and they had quite a time to get them back up again. Now, in filling the silo I think the people get in too big a hurry and fill them too quickly. There was a man in our neighborhood who got in such a rush to get his siio filled, and it sett'ed about eight feet. Now, he lost the space or the use of that much of his silo; besides, through here they charge $1.00 a foot for 14-ft. silos, 16-ft. more, and 12-ft. less. Now, he paid $8 for that which he did not get. We have our own cutter. We get a man with his engine to come and hitch on, and so far it has cost me $5 a day. We furnish coal and water. We begin in the morning as soon as we can and finish next day. That per- mits it to settle over night. Mine settled 3I/2 feet. Now as to the roofing, I prefer it without. We commenced to feed our silage three or four days after we filled the silo, so there was none wasted. Most generally there is from 18 inches to 2 feet moldy and spoiled and I have known of as much as 4 or 5 feet, and if it rains on it, it cools it off, for it is bound to get hot. We fed cows and it made them give more milk and by so doing we utilized what otherwise would have been wasted. We did not feed so strong, and when it was about to get too dry and mold my boy put the hose on the porch pump and started the gasoline engine and pumped a lot of water on it that cooled it off and dampened it, for it will mold pretty quick. Now I think it should be kept in such a state that when you take up a handful and squeeze it, it will make your hand wet. 1 would not say that the water should run down over your hand, but that would be preferable to having it get too dry and streaks of mold get through it. I had some so wet we had to take a scoop shovel and shovel it up and haul it out in barrels. We fed it in a long trough and it did the cattle as much or more good than any we ever fed. Now these are my reasons for not roofing, and often the rains or a snow saves the time of pumping water or of getting it up some other way, and if you will stop to think you will find that time is money, and a lot of it now-a-days. I don't like to let this drop here. A man should go and examine his silo and see how it is doing. If it is getting hot and dry and dries down, it will be sure to get moldy streaks through it and stock will not eat it. Now my silos are to the north and the feed room extends south, with a track down through the center. The boy fills the car with silage, runs it to the south end and feeds back, by so doing the track is clear all the time and he doesn't have to pass over the si'age with his feet, or car either. Now the quantity for steers about 1,200 lbs., 2i/^ bushels full, twice a day; for milch cows, three-fourths as m.uch as for the steers, with some cot- ton seed meal and bran. Our cattle are ravenous after it. The horses all like it. The hogs like it, and I am told the sheep like it. Now, first and last, if you want your stock to eat it well and do well on it, keep it free from mold. I have heard of people cutting cow peas and putting in and cutting clover hay and beans, and various other things, but according to my judg- ment there is nothing so good as corn. The time to cut the corn to fill It, 17 I think, is when the corn is ripe enough so that the grains are glazed over. Respectfully submitted, with many good wishes for your Silo Company, JACOB HENDERLICK, Petaskala, O. Now, Old Sonny, I am 72 years old. This is the first letter I ever wrote of this kind, and not very many of any kind; but you old Hoosiers come out here and see me and I will talk to you until you get tired. J. H. Gentlemen: — I got your letter, read a part of it and what I thought, laid it on the cupboard and proceeded to read the other news. I thought the matter over and concluded I would write, but I only could find the envelope. The letter had fallen, scooted under the cupboard and this morning one of the children found it. Now I had written my letter of my experience and what I have learned about the silo. Now since the letter is found it tells me you want the exact figures of profit shown by the use of silos. That 1 cannot tell, for I have not a scale on these questions. I will honestly give you what I can on the subject. The last week of March, 1908, I got a carload of cattle from Chicago. We pastured through the summer, fed silage about six weeks in the fall, made a gain of 4.52 pounds to the steer. Feb. 1, 1909, I got a carload. "We fed some silage in spring and some in fall, made a gain of about 400 pounds to the steer. The first we sold at 4V2 cents per pound, realizing $19.12 per head. The last lot we realized about $20.00 a head on 32 cattle. The most of our silage is fed to milch cows with other feeds. Now all stock like it and do well, to what extent I cannot tell. Now if I am knocked out I am knocked out, that is all, but don't you go to publishing anything that is misleading, for our government puts out reports that are wrong for I was nii.sled to the tune of $300.00 two years ago, and last spring about $200.00 tlirough agricultural reports. Respectfully, .J. HENDERLICK. KEEPS THREE TIMES AS MANY CATTLE. Indiana Silo Co., Andekson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In this 20th-century age of agriculture it is needless to say that the silo is as necessary an adjunct to every farm with a herd of eight cows as the centrifugal separator. I am glad that I am able to say, and say it truthfully, that before I erected a silo I was able to keep only one-third the number of milk cows that I am able to keep now. Since erecting an 80-ton Indiana Siio I am able to successfully feed, and with profit, from 3.5 to 40 head of cattle for 6 to 7 months. My herd of cows paid for my silo the first six months of feeding, in the saving of mill feed, whereas I used to use from 10 to 12 tons of bran. 3 to 4 tons of gluten, 1 to 2 tons of cotton seed, costing in round numbers, $4.50.00. I now feed silage, 1 to 2 tons of bran and 1 ton of cotton seed, bran and cotton seed costing about $56.00. Counting silage worth $2.50 per ton, 80 tons would be worth $200.00, making a total of $256.00 for six months, as against $450.00 without the silo, a saving of $194.00, enough to build me another good 80 ton Indiana Silo, to say nothing of the better condition in which the cows are, and the performance at the milk pail, the sleekness of the cattle and the size of my manure pile. I feel that my silo is the besi: investment I have ever made and I am looking forward to the very near future when I shall erect another silo. Yours truly, F. I. HEIM, Wooster, O. SAVES 900 BUSHELS OF CORN. Indiana Silo Co., Andek.sox, Lnd. Dear Sirs:— In answer to your circular letter will say that I can give you some lacts as to what my silo has done for me. On December 1, I weighed up .54 head of cattle that averaged 982 pounds, started them on a light ration of snapped corn and hay. On December 28 I opened my silo and began feeding these cattle silage and cotton seed meal, gradually increasing until they were getting 35 pounds of silage and 4 pounds of cotton seed meal per head daily, and, at the same time, changing from snapped corn to broken ear corn and shelled corn until they were getting S pounds per head daily of shelled corn. They were fed this ration of 35 pounds silage, 4 pounds cotton seed meal and 8 pounds of corn and all the bright timothy and clover hay they would eat, which was very little for 30 days. Then I began increasing the shelled corn until they were getting 14 pounds, which was all they would eat. On March 15 I weighed the cattle again at an average of 1,254 pounds, a gain of 272 pounds in 105 days, or a daily gain of 2.59 pounds. I am satisfied that to have made the same gain without the silage it would have taken 15 bushels of corn a day more, for about 60 days until I increased the corn to 14 pounds, which would be 900 bushels at 50 cents or $450.00. E. E. Heil's Establishment. My silo which is 16x30 cost me complete, foundation, roof, paint and all, $300.00, which leaves a balance of $150.00, alter paying for the silo in one year. The $150.00 balance, what I feed to other cattle and what will be left after feeding these cattle until the middle of April will give me market price for the corn put into the silo, which was about 600 bushels. Theretore, you see I have practically paid for the silo out of the stalks that would have been wasted and a nuisance in the field in the spring, to say nothing of the number of tons of $10.00 hay saved. On March 22 one load of the poorest cattle were sold at home for $6.50 per hundred. On April 4 the best load was sold at home for $110.00 per head or close to the $8.00 mark. I still have the other load and they are doing fine. Besides what was ted to the above cattle, fcur cows and two yearling heifers were fed 25 pounds per head daily tor 60 days, with an increased flow of milk in the cows, and the heifers were ready for the butcher's block at any time if I had desired to put them there. And still enough silage to feed 45 head of stock cattle a daily ration of 10 or 15 pounds until the 1st of May. In conclusion I would say that by the use of the silo you can make a maximum gain at a minimum cost. Yours truly, E. E. HEIL, Pleasant Hill Stock Farm, Garrison, Iowa. 19 A CHEAP AND NUTRITIOUS FEED. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Dear Sirs: — Tiie problem of a cheap and nutritious feed for dairy cows and other li^inds of stocli as well, has been solved by the introduc- tion of the silo for the storage of the different crops grown on the farm, particularly field corn, sugar cane, the large growing clovers and cow peas. Field or ensilage corn is preferred on account of the enormous amount grown per acre, as compared to the shorter growth crops, and is also considered better adapted to all kinds of stock. Ensilage is pre-eminently the best feed used by the stock raiser or dairyman lor the reason of its cheapness, quality and convenience com- bined. No other feed can be stored more conveniently; no other feed is richer in quality as compared to bulk, and no other feed is cheaper, when six acres of corn, producing 60 bushels of corn per acre, will make 75 tons of good silage stored in an Indiana Silo, making 150,000 pounds of feed, costing not more than $1.50 per ton, enough to feed 25 cows 200 days at a cost of less than 3 cents for each cow per day. There is no other crop grown on the farm that can compare with corn silage stored in an Indiana Silo. There are other advantages connected with feeding corn silage that will convince any practiced farmer or stock raiser that he should become the owner of an Indiana Silo. The silo allows the farmer or dairyman to keep more stock on less acres, thereby increasing his profits and increasing the fertility of his farm. To make it still more plain, the cost of feeding 25 cows 200 days with silage and enough bran would approximately be $350. To feed the same number of cows the same number of days without silage, using crushed corn or hominy feed instead, would cost, not counting roughage in either test, approximately $500, leaving a balance of $150 in favor of the silo, allowing the feeder to keep one-third more stock. The profits from feeding corn silage over the old way of feeding is still increased by the fact that stock fed with silage will consume less roughage than stock not fed silage. To the doubtful stockman or farmer, do not hesitate longer, but be the owner of an Indiana Silo, the best ever. A. V. HIGHTSHUE, Clermont, Marion County, Indiana, R. F. D. No. 16. SILAGE FOR THE HENS. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen:- — The silo I purchased of your company two years ago is O. K. I fed dairy cows from it the first winter and they did fine, but as our boys do not like to help run a dairy I sold nearly all of the cows. One of our neighbors said to me, "Now what are you going to do with that Silo?" I told him I was going to feed the ensilage to the other stock. I find that the general farmer needs the silo more than a dairyman. We are feeding ensilage to horses, mules, jacks, stock cattle, brood sows, fattening hogs, pigs, sheep and poultry. Our hens commenced laying as soon as we began feeding ensilage. I never had brood sows in as nice condition as they are now. We feed some corn and hay to our sheep, but they do not seem satisfied until they get ensilage. I had one of my neighbors come and see me feed. He was astonished to see how everything eats silage. I think the Indiana Silo is the grandest improvement of the age. If I owned this farm I would build more silos. I would harvest all our corn crop that war. There ought to be silos on every farm in Indiana. Yours truly, ELI N. CRAMER, Brooklyn, Indiana. NOTHING LIKE IT. Indiana Silo Co., Andeeson, Ind. Gentlemen: — During the raonth of August. 1909, my 16x30 Indiana Silo was erected on a cement foundation with 31/2 feet excavated. It is covered "with grooved roofing. The filling occupied 11/2 days, Sept. 28 and 29. Feeding began Nov. 22 and figures given are for a period of four months. The statement below is made with no attempt to exploit silos, here- ford cattle or ability of feeder to secure results. The estimates are from beel valuations with reference to gains. Viewed from the standpoint of the breeder, the net results are considerably greater, these cattle being mostly pure bred Herefords. VALUE OF EQUIPMENT, STOCK AND FEED. Silo complete witli roof and foundation, painted $ 300.00 Filling (making allowance for cost of husking) 60.00 15 acres corn, 700 bu., siloed at 50c 350.00 50 calves, weight November 22, 360 lbs.; valued $4.50. . 810.00 28 cows 1,680.00 Other Feed— 10 tons clover hay, |]00; 10 tons baled alfalfa, $150; 100 bu. oats, $40; 150 bu. shelled corn, $75; 21/2 tons molas.<5es feed, $65; other rough- ness, $25 455.00 $3,655.00 INVENTORY MARCH 22, 1910. Silage fed to hogs and horses $ 40.00 Silage on hand 25.00 50 calves, weight 560 lbs., at 5%c 1,540.00 28 cows at $75 2,100.00 6 calves dropped during period 60.00 Milk and butter from two cows 50.00 Silo 290.00 $4,105.00 Net gain $ 450.00 The above statement reduces one year's silo experience to figures as nearly as possible at this time. It would perhaps be considered only fair to charge part of the profits to other feeds used to supplement the silage. However, it will be observed that the amount used was so small that it alone would not nearly have maintained the stock, and the only profit to be derived from merely maintaining stock in the winter season is due to greater de- mand for stock cattle to go on pastures in the spring. This gain in value would not justify the expense if the good old summer time did not intervene. The figures given are very conservative and it is safe to" con- sider that if two farms identical in every other respect carrying similar amounts of stock of the above character for the pro- duction of fancy baby beef, the one with N. M. Leonard, Waukee, la. the 150-ton silo will show an annual profit $500.00 greater than the other. 2f This is based upon results obtained during a winter with 90 days sleighing, with temperature below zero one-third of the time, when fuel bills were double the average amount and hay scarcer than coal because of what was required for fuel to keep up the animal heat. But a display of cold profits does not tell the whole story. The writer cared for this stock without assistance in addition to other stock and used less than half of his time. No hauling fodder in blizzards, chopping shocks out with an ax or miring in a sea of mud, no loss from gophers, mice or exactions of weather — just solid comfort scattering silage down a feed bunk 50 feet long coming up to the silo door; feeding done without slipping in snow or mud. The question is frequently asked, how does stock like it? Go ask the cattle. Their reply is eloquent in the pandemonium turned loose on both sides of the feed bunk. They thus proclaim, "Nothing like it," and bottom of bunk soon shines like a china plate. A local drover was asked: "Tom, how do those cows look after being wintered on silage and stubble?" "They look prettv dang good." N. M. LEONARD, Waukee, Iowa. FEEDS SHEEP ON SILAGE. IxDiA.xA Silo Co., Andewsox, Ind. Gentlemen: — In answer to yours of February 2, 1910, I submit my experience since the purchase of my silo in 1905. 1 purchased an Indiana Silo in 1905 and filled same fall. Shortly after tilling I traded farms, but reserved the silo and contents and was compelled to haul the silage five miles that winter. In the fall of 1906 I erected it on its present site. Did not keep accurate account of gains made, but was well satisfied with condition of stock at spring time. In the fall of 1906 I filled it again and fed to everything on the farm and bought a load of beef cattle. I fed with good gain on ensilage and a small amount of dry corn and straw, keeping dairy cows off pasture until they had a good start in the spring. In the fall of 1907 I filled again, but this year did not get it all fed; had about 10 feet left over. At this time I roofed the silo, 1908, taking off what little had spoiled, filled in on top of what was left and began feeding about the middle of November, and re- filled again with dry fodder about December 15. This time used water on fodder. Added some Chicago steers, with the intention of feeding the silo empty in time for grass, but with the silage and clover hay in five months the steers looked so good to the buyers that I had to let them go and still had enough silage to do 20 head of cattle to the 10th of June, 1909. When my neighbors' pastures were short and bare I was just ready to turn on pasture that was in bloom, and instead of using 18 acres for pasture, as I had planned, I used 10 acres and kept the 18 for hay; so after getting a good gain on about 40 head of cattle, fed 10 head of horses two feeds a day, 13 sheep one feed per day, 22 brood sows one feed per day. This is by the silo of 16 x 24. In the fall of 1909 I filled again and am feeding to dairy cows and 232 breeding ewes, which are doing well on one feed of ensilage and one feed of alfalfa per day Will have silage to carry them to grass in good condition. It costs about 75 cents per ton to fill the silo, not counting the corn, and the corn that is put in it is doubled in value. The silo is so valuable I do not see how so many farmers get along without it, as I believe there is a profit by the use of silage that is inestimable in the growth of all live stock. Yours truly, EDW. E. HIATT, Greentown, Ind. 22 SILAGE A HEALTHFUL FOOD, Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In dealing with the question of profits derived from the practical use of the silo on my farm I find it impossible to give them in figures, as it is ted with other feeds, but will surely say I believe it to be most excellent feed for cows, fattening steers, stockers, brood ewes, fattening sheep or lambs. We also make it a practice of feeding it to our horses and colts in smaller quantities; also to brood sows. It should be understood it is mainly used for ruminating animals. Under one roof we feed 9 head of horses, 40 head of cattle, 160 sheep,30 hogs, and I can safely say we don't have one sick animal for every ten my father had 50 years ago on one-quarter the amount of stock. A great amount of this difference I credit to the silo. I consider the 12 or 15 acres of corn in the silo worth in dollars and cents twice that amount harvested in any other way. Why? Because we have the whole stock and ear cut when in full maturity, from the ground up. This, with the good effect it has on the animal to help other feeds do their work, is why I put this value on ensilage. In conclusion, I might say something on filling the silo. In buying a cutter, be sure to secure a large size. Don't be fooled on any small machine. I prefer six men as cutters, teams with low rack. Put three men to cut for one wagon, each man take his row and cut and carry to driver, teams enough to keep cutters going. I like this way better than the binder. Last year six cutters kept the machine singing all the long day. Didn't stop fifteen minutes all put together. If we make any change in the silo business it will be to build another one. C. H. HILLBS, Bourbon, Ind. MORE PROFIT AT LESS COST. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — There are many things which have passed the experi- mental stage. One of them is the silo '' and the feeding of silage to various kinds of stock and especially dairy cows. It is a happy combination for the dairyman. It combines cheapness in harvesting and storing, convenience in feeding, a much relished feed and one that takes the place of summer green feed during winter and dry times during summer. Here are some figures showing its effectiveness as a milk producing feed. In the summer of 1908 we purchased a silo of the best cypress wood of the In- diana Silo Company. It was a new thing in our community. People came and looked at it as if it were a white elephant. It was filled during Septem- ber and opened November 15. We fed 30 or 35 lbs. per cow out of it until July 10, 1909. The year previous the cows fed on dry feed and grain only pro- duced as follows: Thirteen cows aver- aged 242.89 lb. fat per cow and re- turned $745.26 from the creamery. The next year, 1908-09, the same cows Filling Silo on Irish Dairy Farm. with one exception and fed almost the same way. only with less hay, but in addition a feed of silage twice a day gave us $347.59 lbs. fat average per cow and a creamery check of $1,048.00. This shows an increase per cow of 105 lbs. of butter fat. We will say that 75 Ihs. of this increase was due to the feeding of silage. Seventy-five pounds of butter fat at 28c, our average price, amounts to $21.00. This is a conserva- tive estimate of its value to us for one year. A herd of 25 cows would re- turn $525.00 at that rate, more than enough to pay for the silo in one year. Could anyone ask for a better investment? There was a similar increase in the milk yield. The herd gave an average per cow of 5,462 lbs. of milk in the year from October, 1907, to October, 1908. The next year, with corn silage as a part of the ration, they returned an average of 7,953.15 lbs. milk per cow, an increase of 2,499.15 lbs. milk. Allowing that 75 per cent, of the increase was due to silage we have 1,868 lbs. milk at $1.30 per hundred gets us $24.28. Doesn't that sound good to the man who milks cows? Tliese figures are not mere approximations, but are taken from our records kept of each cow. So, Mr. Dairyman, if you want to make money, put up a silo and do it quick. You will find that if you do you will have the best and cheapest milk and butter producing feed on earth. Don't allow the expense to keep you from getting a silo. It is sure to come back to you with big interest. There is nothing that will help a dairyman or stock feeder toward better conditions more than a silo used in the right way. HARRY B. IRISH, Farina, Illinois. CORN CAUGHT BY FROST. India.xa Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — The silo I received of you last August 14th is O. K. and 1 am pleased with it. I changed work with my neighbors and erected it witli very little expense outside my own labor. By committing to memory your instructions I had no trouble in raising the silo, the work moved right along. Did my own painting and put on the roof, etc. Dug 71A feet in ground with 24-foot staves, equals a 10x31 ^z^- foot silo, and built a cement wall, but from the experience I had in taking out the ensilage down even with the top of wall convinced me that I would not want a cement silo. The ensilage was frozen l^^ feet from the cement wall toward the center of silo and I could not dig it loose with a fork; but all the way up the staves during the freezing weather the ensilage was not frozen more than two inches and came loose easily with a fork, being right to the opposite of my old ideas. Our corn through this section was killed by an early frost two weeks before I could fill, cutting down the value of corn and losiug lots of the leaves. But my cows, calves and horse would leave good timothy or clover hay for the ensilage. My stock is all in a good healthy condition. My cows came fresh in mid-winter and have been giving a good flow of milk. My neighbors give me compliments on how well my cows look. I am positive the silo has saved me three tons of hay, which at present prices means $40.00 or more. I milked one heifer until about six weeks before I sold her and the butcher said she was a good beef. I am satisfied with my frosted corn experience and if nothing hap- pens, I have my silo ready to chuck in the corn as quick as it is frosted after this for better ensilage and better yet when the corn don't frost, getting all there is in it. With success to your business, I remain yours truly, WM. J. HARRISON, Cedar Springs, Mich. 24 INCREASE DUE TO SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Dear Sirs: — You will please find enclosed photo of my barn and two Indiana Silos. Before we got the silos we were only able to keep 14 head of cattle and 3 horses. Now on the same land we are able to keep 45 head of cattle and 5 horses. The increase is due to the silos alone. Yours truly, G. W. HIRTZELL, Effingham, Hi. ,e Hirtzell and His Barn and Silos. SAVES CORN AND HAY. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In 1908 I bought from H. C. Hargrove, of Des Moines, one of your 16x30 Indiana Silos. The silo is highly satisfactory, keeping my silage perfectly, and the results obtained by feeding silage are beyond my expectations. Before I had a silo I used to feed 20 head of steers 1.5 bushels of ear corn per day besides all the hay they would eat. I now feed the 20 head 6 bushels of ear corn and 800 lbs. of silage daily and they eat about one- third of the hay formerly fed. I make a net saving of 9 bushels of corn per day and my steers put on flesh much faster on silage feed than on dry feed. I save the use of two-thirds of my meadow and on this ground I grow corn enough to fill my silo. Nine bushels of corn a day for 90 days, the length of time I feed, makes 810 bushels. Corn is worth now 60c per bushel, making me a net saving of $486.00 on feeding one car load of steers 90 days. Yours very truly, NELS S. HILLAND, Huxley, Iowa SEVEN YEARS A USER. Indiana Silo Co., Andekson, Ind. Gentlemen:— On December 1, 1900, we made cur first trip to Newark, Ohio, in tlie retail milk business. In the fall of 1902 we erected our first silo, being eight-sided and lined on the inside with one-inch yellow pine. We used 2 x 6's for hoops, bolted together at the corners, this being the first silo erected in this neighborhood. We used this silo for two years, but the second year so much of the silage spoiled that we concluded to erect one that would keep the silage better. We finally decided on the Indiana Silo and have had no reason for regretting it since. In the last seven years there have been a large number of silos erected in Licking county. I think we would be safe in saying that where there are six Indiana Silos there is only one of any other make. 1 don't see how some dairymen can keep on in the same old rut by feeding dry feed when prices are so high for all feeds, when they can get such a large amount of succulent and palatable feed in a small space without practically any loss. Many dairymen have an idea that the cost of filling a silo is so much greater than harvesting in the old way. Ac- cording to my observations it is practically the same if you take into con- sideration the waste in feeding, handling and exposure to the weather. The following represents the cost of filling our silo in 1909, putting in 130 shocks of 144 hills each. Our silo is 12x33; twenty-four-foot staves and nine feet in the ground. After it had settled we had 28 feet of silage or about 7.5 tons costing 70 cents per ton for filling: Power and cutter $18.00 Four teams with men at $3.00 per day 18.00 Five men at $1..50 per day 11.25 Fuel 1.50 Total $48.75 For harvesting the same amount of corn the usual way: Cutting 130 shocks at 7c $ 9.10 Husking 350 bushels of corn at 5c 17.50 Cribbing 350 bushels, man and team 6.00 Stacking stover, 130 shocks, 2 men and team 6.75 Total $39.35 A difference of $9.40 in favor of the old way, but I think the waste in feeding and handling will be equal to that or even more. Admitting that it costs no more to put a crop of corn into the silo than it does to harvest it the old way, does it lessen the cost of producing milk or beef? For answer I will refer you to any dairyman that has ever used a silo. When we first put up our Indiana Silo we erected it on a rented farm with the understanding that if the farm were sold or we moved away we could remove the silo. In the fall of 1908 the farm was sold, but we did not have to give possession until the first of April, 1909. In the fore jjart of the winter we fed rather heavily on our silage so we could get it fed out by the 1st of April. By the second week of March we began to cut down our silage ration and feed more dry feed, the reason being to get our herd on a full ration of dry feed with as little shrinkage in the milk flow as possible. The last week in March we had our herd on a dry ration with the following results, as compared with silage ration in the first week in March: 26 Ensilage Ration for Seven Days. 2,730 lbs. silage at 20c per cwt $ 5.46 700 lbs. mixed hay at 50c per cwt 3.50 560 lbs. mixed feed at $1.40 per cwt 7.84 35 bundles stover at 3c 1.05 Total $17.85 Total amount of milk produced, 1,743 lbs. Dry Ration for Seven Days. 1,350 lbs. mixed hay at 50c per cwt $ 6.75 560 lbs. mixed feed at $1.40 per cwt 7.84 56 bundles stover at 3c 1.68 8 bushels of corn at 65c 5.20 Total $21.47 Total amount of milk produced, 1, 572 lbs. This leaves a dil^erence of $3.62 in favor of the silage ration in cost of feed consumed. Also a difference of 171 lbs. milk or 20 gallons, at 16c per gallon, making $3.20 in favor of the silage ration, a grand total of $6.82 (almost $1 a day difference) in favor of the silage ration. One dollar's worth of feed of the silage ration produces almost 100 lbs of milk. One dollar's worth of the feed of dry ration produces almost 75 lbs. of milk. Of course, the first cost of a silo seems to be too large an undertaking for a good many dairymen. Considering the life of a silo it amounts to very little each year and the repairs amount to almost nothing outside of painting. Our Indiana Silo has been in use for five years, has been torn down and moved once and is as good as new and will last for many years to come. A farmer will pay from $100 to $125 for a self-binder to be used from two to six days in a year. Some dairymen will not invest from $100 to $200 in a silo to be used from six to eight months in the year. Why is it? Because they cannot see where the silo makes them dollars and cents. WILLIAM L. KELLEY, Newark, Ohio, R. F. D. No. 2. SELLS HAY NOW. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen :^ — I should like to have sent you a picture of my silo, but have no photographer near. I think very highly of silage for feed for all kinds of stock. I buiit one 10 x 30 feet in 1908 and one 14 x 30 feet in 1909, side by side, and built one roof across both and like it fine, as I can fil! both without changing cutter. I sold enough extra hay to pay half the cost of my silos the last two years, besides having my stock in better condition. I have been told not to feed silage to heavy cows and brood mares, but mine get their regular feed of silage and the young stock are lively and able to jump when I find them — from lambs to colts. My silos are covered with standing seams galvanized iron. I think every stock farm should own one large and one small silo, and I think any one will be safe in buying the Indiana Silo. I like the doors very much. Respectfully, R. A. GOULD, Bone Gap, III. 27 BROWN SWISS STOCK FARM. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I have been using ensilage for nine or ten years. I did not tully appreciate a silo until I tiad to get along without it, after using one for eight years. 1 know that ensilage is the cheapest feed we have on the farm. I feel when we have the silo filled that 1 have so many acres of corn, cut, shredded, husked, shelled and ground and put up in the best possible shape to feed. It is always ready, don't have to go out in the cold and snow to get it. I feed ensilage the whole year. A small 3ilo for the summer feeding is a good thing to have. I have used a concrete silo and have used a wood silo of i/2-inch stuff, doubled and plastered on the in- side. I have now two Indiana Silos on the north side of barn, with a Ira Inman's Brown Swiss Bull. square building of drop shling around it with a flat roof. I used yellow pine for silos; it was No. 1 tank stock. Ensilage did not freeze in them this long cold winter. I believe the Indiana Silo is one of the best silos made. Yours very truly, IRA INMAN, Beioit, Wisconsin. BEST SILO IN COMMUNITY. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In reply to yours of March 24, 1910, in regard to the silo purchased of you would say that it has been a great benefit to me. My dairy cows never did so well as they have this spring and never looked so well. The silo has been a great saving to me in hay. The man who filled the silo last fall and who had filled ten other silos said this was the best silo he had seen anywhere. I would not part with it for a large amount of money and 1 will gladly recommend vo'ir silo to others who contemplate buying one. GEORGE PRESAN, Tenant for M. Grebler, Philadelphia, N. Y. WHAT A 14-YEAR-OLD BOY KNOWS ABOUT SILOS, Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Dear Sirs: — I thought I would write you the composition that I wrote and read at the Baders High School Nov. 5, 1909. I wrote it myself. I am 14 years of age. We had a corn exhibit and my question was to write about silos. I want this published in your silo papers. This is what I "wrote: A silo is an air-tight pit for packing away green fodder and green clover hay. I will write a few things concerning silos, and I will do so by telling what I have learned about them during the past year. In August, 1908, we built three Indiana Silos at our barn. These silos are built ot Long Leaf Yellow Pine. Some are made of Cypress and Oregon Fir. This pine grows on the lowland along the lower Mississippi not far from the Gulf of Mexico. The Oregon Fir grows in Oregon. This timber is known to be a very durable kind of wood. It is sawed two inches thick, six inches in width and is dressed on both sides and tongued and grooved, so that the staves fit together perfectly air tight and water tight from top to bottom. The staves are all 24 feet long and are held together by strong hoops made of steel. They are built perfectly round and perpendicular. One of our silos is 12 feet in diameter and 24 feet tall and holds 55 tons of feed. Our other two silos are 14 feet in diameter and hold enough ensilage to feed 20 head of grown cattle six months off of 8 acres of ground. The small silo holds enough ensilage to feed 16 head of grown cattle six months off of 5 acres of ground. How does this compare with the old way of feeding cattle? This is how it compares: You take 25 head of cattle and feed them in the old way, it will take about two or three acres of cut corn fodder to feed a cow through the winter and in the spring your cattle are poor and look bad. Now you can take the same amount of cattle and feed them in the new way and you will find that you can winter them on less than one half of the ground, without half the work shucking the corn fodder and you have not got the corn stalks to contend with in the spring. And if you feed ensilage you will have an easy time hauling the manure. These silos are the very latest way of taking care of your corn and hay crops. The feed in these silos heats very much. The feed is cooked and it is warm all the time. When you handle it the steam will fog up rrom the feed. The cattle relish the silage and they eat it all up and they will not eat up all of corn fodder. All kinds of stock will eat ensilage if they can get it. These silos are built on a round concrete foundation. When you go to erect a silo you put up the scaffold first and then the door frame and next the staves. The staves are held in their places by lath which are nailed inside of a barrel. The door frame has eight doors in it. The doors have handles so as to make a continuous ladder. There are several different silo companies. The Indiana Silo Co., and Saginaw Co , and Ross Co. I think the Indiana Silo Co. is the best company to deal with. They sell what they advertise. I think every farmer who has stock ought to have a silo. It will save him money and labor and the exposure of shuck- ing corn fodder in the winter time. There is an acid in this feed which preserves the wood and eats up a piece of iron. The feed in a silo is sour and yet it is green and it keeps as long as the silo lasts. This feed will mold about 6 or 8 inches on top, but will not be molded any farther than the air will go unless you have not tramped it good. Yours truly, FRED GUNTER, Baders, 111., R. F. D. No 1. REMARKABLE GAINS. . . Indiana Silo Co., Anpekson, Ind. Dear Sirs: — Answering to inquiry as to what I think of the Indiana Silo, will say the use of a silo has been very profitable to me. In Sep- tember, 1903, I erected my first silo, the use of which was so satisfactory that in September, 1906, having bought another farm, I erected another silo on it. In the fall of 1905 I conducted an experiment on feeding steers on my farm, having on hand some yearling steers and some two- year olds. Began feeding them November 25th. The two-year-olds at that time averaged 972 1^ pounds; the one-year-olds 566 pounds each. Their feed was silage made from well-eared corn, except about 30 days at latter end of feeding an allowance of two pounds daily of ground corn was added. Every day they were turned out of the stable into the feed lot, where they had access to water, a little dry corn fodder and a straw stack. Fed the two-year-olds 109 days and then sold them. Their average weight was then 1,325 pounds, making an average gain per steer of 352 1/^ pounds. The one-year-olds were fed 110 days and then sold to butcher! They averaged 841 pounds, making an average gain of 275 pounds. Hav- ing a stock scale in my barn, I weighed the steers at regular intervals and could not notice that they gained any faster after the ground corn was added. Barn and Silo of Levi Hile, Showing Some of His Cattle. Since making the above experiment on feeding steers I have fed some steers every winter, and I believe silage by far to be the best and cheapest feed to prepare them for market, or even to feed from calves up. I also am keeping a small dairy and find silage to be the best feed to keep cows in good order and in increasing the flow of milk and by adding a small amount of wheat bran to the silage it is fully equal to the best of pasture for cows. All in all, a silo will pay its cost every year. This 1 proved to my own satisfaction in my six years' experience with silos, and a good one such as manufactured by the Indiana Silo Company will last a life time. I have used silage for feeding all kinds of stock on the farm and find it the best ever. Breeding ewes will do well and raise fine large lambs, and for feeding for market sheep or lambs silage is the best feed to in- sure weight. The brood mare craves it and does better with it. The sow and winter shoats are much improved by its use. An acre of corn through the silo feeds twice as far and can be har- vested earlier than the old way. Silos are coming Into use very fast. When I got my first one there were no others in this vicinity, but every year since there have been more silos erected, and the Indiana Silo is very prominently taking the lead in this vicinity. To my knowledge 22 Indiana Silos were bought and only 2 of other makes last year. Will conclude by saying that my dealings with the Indiana Silo Com- pany have been most pleasant and satisfactory, aud their word can be relied upon in everv respect. Yours truly, LEVI HILE, Carey, Ohio. SOME ADVANTAGES OF THE SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. (1) It doubles the value of the products put into it. (2) It leaves the land in ideal condition for fall wheat and alfalfa, and in Kansas the corn can be cut and put into the silo in time to sow either, and such land, when the corn is taken off, makes an ideal seed bed. (o) It enables a farmer to fall plow his land (which is much better tnan spring plowing) and exposes the soil and its attendant evils to the action of the frost and snow of the winter. (4) Experiments conducted at the Kansas Agricultural college during 1908 showed that plowing the land during late fall or early winter destroyed practically 100 per cent, of the over-wintering pupae of that destructive enemy the corn ear worm. M. O. Keeffe's Farm, Topeka, Kans. (5) It is a quick and wasteless way of harvesting a corn crop and the men cannot slight the work as every hand must do his share in order to keep the cutter going, and, compared to the old way of chopping corn fodder out of the ice and snow, it is a very easy way of finding it out as a person does not have to be out in the cold. (6) Any invention that saves labor and increases the value of our crops will enhance the value of our land, and the silo will do all this, as it enables a farmer to save all his corn crop or whatever he puts into it. These are some of my reasons, as they now appear to me, for advo- cating the use of a silo and I submit them to your judgment to publish them if you see fit. Respectfully yours, M. O. KEBFFE. Topeka, Kan. 31 IT PAYS FOR ITSELF IN 120 DAYS. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I wish to tell you, if I can. what I think of a silo. I think more of an Indiana Silo than of any other make that I know anything about. The silo saves labor, lessens the exposure of winter feeding, builds up the fertility of the soil, adds to the good appearance of the farm and puts more dollars in the bank to the owner's credit. Following I wish to give you a few striking figures and proofs of the above statement. It costs us at the least calculation, $6. .50 per acre to harvest corn and stover of a 70-bushel yield, while we can run the same into the silo for $5.00 per acre. Thus on 12 acres we save $18.00 in harvesting. In a feeding test we found it took as much ear corn to full feed 20 steers without silage as it did to full feed 30 steers with silage, thus saving 3 bushels of corn per day, or 540 bushels In the 180 days, worth $297.00. We also found by same test that on the 30 cattle we saved about 25 tons of hay or $200.00. We find that, due to the better finish of the silage cattle, they were worth 25c per cwt. more, thus making us $2.75 per head or $72.50 on the 30 steers. Therefore the silo returned $297.00 plus $200.00 plus $72.50 plus $18.00, which equals $580.50. The silage was worth $300.00 (high estimate), making a net profit in favor of silage of $280.50. The silo cost about $275.00. Thus you see the silo returned more than 100 per cent on the investment. Can we buy any other tool that will make any way near the above returns? And I did not include in those figures the saving in labor in feeding or the added value to the farm due to the better improvement. If you can use this letter to help convince a brother farmer that he needs a silo, then we will be pleased for we know by so doing we will have bettered his condition. Truly the friend of a silo, WM. M. .JONES, Fairmount. Ind. NEVER HAD STOCK DO SO WELL. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Four years ago this coming year I bought a 24-foot silo of you. I never for a minute regretted the money spent for it. I feed silage to cattle, hogs and poultry. I never had stock do so well, especially in winter time, as it does on silage. I find that six acres of corn cut into silage will go as far as 20 acres of corn in dry fodder and be much better. I am feeding my brood sows nothing but silage and they are doing fine. Last June we had a very severe wind storm in this locality, which blew down trees, windmills and silos. Well, mine wasn't anchored, and of course it went down flat on the ground. Twisted the hoops in all shapes. I looked at the wreck and concluded my silo was a goner. I expected to find the staves underneath all splintered and broken. Myself and two sons, 17 and 19 years old, got the hoops in nice shape and the staves piled up. Later on we put the silo on the same foundation, filled it with corn, which is keeping fine. Any one not knowing that the silo had been blown down could not detect any damage done to it at all. I am so well pleased with the way the silo behaved through the storm that if in the future I should ])ut up another silo it certainly will be an Indiana Silo. Yours truly, PETER GROSS, Goshen, Ind. ENSILAGE FED TO POULTRY AND PIGS. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen^In reply to your letter dated March 24, will state I am well pleased with my silo. No dairyman can afford to be without one. I began feeding ensilage about December 1st, 1909. I fed 9 head of cows, 2 yearlings and 4 colts. I fed to each cow 12 lbs, of ensilage twice a day. To the colts and yearlings I did not feed quite so much as I did the cows. I also fed with this ensilage 5 tons of mixed hay and 100 shocks of corn fodder. I will state that I will have enough silage to feed my stock until the last of April I have never had my stock to winter as well as they have done this winter. I fed my poultry and pigs ensilage. My silo is 12x20, Wishing you much success with your Indiana Silo, I remain yours truly, JAMES M. GREGORY, Bluford, 111. P. S. — I will send you the picture of my silo and cow barn later. GAIN OF $1,608 ON THIRTY-THREE CATTLE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I purchased a silo from your agent, which I filled with corn about the middle of October and began feeding on it the 25th of November. Fed 33 head of Polled Angus and Hereford steers, 20 head of 3 and 4-year-olds and 13 head of 2-year-olds. We fed 140 days, but cannot give correct ttgures on those cattle on account that I bought them by guess weight, but was guessed at 1,050, that is, the 20 head of 3 and 4-year-olds. They were shipped and on the market and were in fine shape. Their hair was the finest that I saw on the market when they were shipped. They averaged 1,292 and sold tor $7.65 per hundred weight. The 2-year-olds brought S7.25 per hundred weight and weighed 930, which I consider good. They were all fed on ensilage, some corn and pea hay. I will say that the cost on 20 head of steers, when put on feed, was about $46.00 per head, and the 13, $26.00 per head. I consider your silo one of the finest and cheapest that a farmer ever put on his farm. Yours very truly, JNO. Z. GENT, Carbondale, 111. A GREAT ADVANTAGE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Dear Sirs: — These few lines will come to you a little late. I must beg you to excuse me that my letter must be written in German as I am not able to write English. You wish to know what I think of your silo. I have two of your 150- tons each. I cannot express the advantage that I have by the use of the silo nor can I see how I could do without them. As a farmer I could do without a binder as easily as I could do without the silo. A stock raiser or dairyman should not be without a silo to supply the feed. The cattle are healthier and the milk good, with no after taste and is good in color. With the use of the silos I can feed four times the amount of cattle with less trouble. Tlie Indiana Silo has my preference over any other make and it is possible that in the near future I will add a third silo. F. W. GOOS, Hamilton, O., R. F. D. No. 9. FINDS COMFORT IN HAVING FEED HOUSED IN SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Yours of the ISth at hand. I will say for your silo that it is the best silo on the market. I have seen a good many different kinds, but none that fill so nicely nor the doors go in without breaking them. I would not do without one of your silos for three times the cost. I can feed more stock on 6 acres of land than a man can on 25 acres any other way. With a silo you have your feed in the barn and out of the snow. How nice it is to sit in the house in the rocker and see my neigh- bor out in the field with a shovel and an ax digging in two or three feet of snow and the sweat running down his face and puffing like a steam engine. There is where the Indiana Silo comes in for comfort, and the next thing the manure is in fine shape to go back on the land. There are no stalks or rubbish to contend with and my cows, chickens and colts come out In the spring like they had been stall fed, when my neighbors', I can stand 80 rods off and count the ribs in the cows and see them hump up as if they were starved. Mine ar full and plump. I use very little hay, scarcely any. Will not exceed 200 lbs. hay a month. I would not do without a silo if I only had three cows and fifty chickens. Yours, O. F. PETERSON, Zion City, 111. FINDS SILAGE CHEAPEST AND BEST. Indiana Silo Co., Andeuson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I have used a silo three seasons now and it has given me very satisfactory results. The cost seems at first to be rather high, but considering the cost and amount of barn room it takes to store hay in and the difference in the quality of the feed, it makes the first cost of a silo reasonable. I have a silo that holds 75 tons of silage. This cost me when com- pleted $200.00. I have filled this silo with five acres of corn yield- ing 60 bushels of corn to the acre and the expense of filling was 60c per ton, making the total cost of filling $45.00. I can feed- IS milk cows, ian.\ Silo Co.. Axdekson, Ind. (ientlcmen: — ^1 will try to give you a few hints as to why I think the silo has paid me: — When I bought my silo I kept about eight cows, but alter bu>iiig a silo I could keep about 12 cows easily and a few other stock, sucli as sheep and cattle. But I went to feeding my cows silage and they gained about one-half gallon of milk per cow per day and my test raised from 4 to 4'^i. It did not cost any more to fill my silo than it would to cut and husk aljoiit the ^ame amount of corn and get the fodder out in the winter. 1 do not beli(>ve a man can make a success at dairying on a small farm unless he has a silo. Then he has all the leaves and stalk to feed, where the stock do not eat the stalks in racks outside. There is no loss in handling as otherwise. Then the silo filled enables you to do your own feeding without the aid of a hand. I would enclose one of my photos of my herd and silo, but T have been ill with the grip and pneumonia for the past month. I believe that this is a true statement to the best of my knowledge. Very sincerely yours. ROBERT N. CURRY, Mechanicsburg, O. 44 REGRETS HE DOESN'T HAVE TWO. Indiana Silo Co., Andekson, Ind. Dear Sirs: — Thinking you might be interested to hear what satisfac- tion my silo is giving, also what feeding results it has produced on a bunch of short fed steers, I will give you a brief outline as to what and how I feed them; also, the weights when put in to feed and when sold. The 5 steers weighed 6,440 lbs. November 8th, 1909, and were worth $4.00 per cwt, or $257.60. We fed each steer 42 days, as follows: Weight Total Daily feed per steer. • of feed. 5 head. 32 lbs. silage 1,344 6,720 18 lbs. corn 756 3,780 8 to 10 lbs. clover 400 2,000 December 20th the steers were weighed and sold as follows: 3 steers, 4,530 lbs., at $6.50 $294.45 2 steers, 2, 610 lbs., at $5.50 143.55 Total, 7,140 lbs $438.00 I did not keep any account of the gain made by the 10 hogs I had with them, but would judge they gained at least 10 lbs. per day or 420 lbs. of gain, and only had two baskets of silage in addition to what they got from the cattle. I had some cows feeding, but did not keep an exact account of their gain, but know they did equally as well as the steers. Must say silage is one of the grandest, cheapest feeds I ever fed and only regret that I did not put up two silos instead of one. FRANK T. EASON, Mgr. Lawndale Stock Farm, Des Moines, la. PAYS 200 PER CENT FIRST YEAR. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I will send you a statement of my silo feeding: Silo, September 1, 1909 $ 300.00 9 acres corn in silo 150.00 October 25th, 24 cattle 1,173.46 Hogs on hand 100.00 Dry corn to cattle 300.00 Hay to cattle 30.00 Total $2,053.46 March 29th, 10 cattle sold $1,799.50 Hogs that followed cattle 402.50 Hogs left on hands 100.00 Si'age fed to 3 milch cows 6 months 30.00 22 sheep fed 5 months 15.00 Silage fed to horses 5.00 Income $2,352.00 Expenses $2,053.46 Silo paid for and $ 298.54 Well pleased with silo and likT to use the feed. Everything did well on it and I got it paid for and a good profit. J. W. ESPEY, Palestine, 111. 45 GOOD REASONS. Indiana Silo Co., Andekso.n, L\n. Gentlemen: — I bought a silo of you four years ago and it has saved me its cost and more. It costs me $200.00 eacl? year for the corn to put in it and to pay for fill- ing it. I and some of my neighbors have bought a silo filler, so it won't cost $200.00 next year to fill it. I have IS cows and heifer.5 and 1 bull and the silage lasts until pasture is good in the spring. I have five horses and I feed them l'"_J silage instead of corn '^ in the winter. The cows and horses would eat 2.5 tons of hay, which costs '*iS $10,00 per ton, and sometimes more, which would be $2.^0 or $50 saved right there by the use of the silo. Now, if I had nothing to feed the cows l)ut hay and fodder I would have to have corn and oats ground. That would cost me something with corn at 60c to 75c per bushel. When I feed silage I give them a little hay about once a week for a change. Silage saves your corn, oats and hay and is as good as corn or oats and better than hay, so it saves money. Some of its advantages are these : First. It is as good as oats and corn ground up and it costs less. Second. It is better than hay and costs far less. Third. It is so rich that l)ut little is required. Fourth. A silo takes up far le-^s room than a liarii would to hold the same quantity of feed. For these reasons and many others I prefer silage to any other feed. Yours truly, ' F. B. LEWIS, Vandalia, Mich. Farm Home of F. B. Lewis, Vandalia, IVlich. CATTLE AND SHEEP DO WELL. Indi.xxa Silo Co., Axdekson, 1mi. Gentlemen: — At your request I will endeavor to let you know some- tiiing of what I think of an Indiana Silo. To commence with, will say that last year as we had a very short corn crop and not much hay, and had sev- eral head of cattle and sheep we wanted to keep over winter, we con- eluded there could never be a better time to experiment with an Indiana Silo than then. Did not take the notion until late, but as we had a late piece of corn we got our silo up and filled in good shape. We set it on a cement basement with cement floor, which added 18 inches in height to its capacity. As to figures showing the actual gain in weight, I could not give them. 46 Our experiment was to see if our cattle and siieep would live or die by trying to take them through the winter on silage, as it, with a little straw and fodder, was all we had to give them. I live in Russiaville and have my farm rented to C. G. White, each of us having half interest in the stock. I went every once in a while to see how they were doing. T must say they did not only live but did as well or better than when we had plenty of corn and clover hay to give them. I have been asked if the stock would clean it up or not. My attention was drawn to that one cold morning when I went out to see the cattle after they had been fed a little while, by making a mistake and stepping in the trough; you can guess at the rest. I said to Mr. White there is no doubt about the cattle eating this sttiff up clean. The sheep would clean it up perfectly clean and did as well as the cattle. Some ask if there is danger of over-feeding. After they get used to eating it there is certainly no danger for we surely gave it a good test with one calf, a Poll Hereford that came late in the fall, and we let it run with its mother. It would eat with the cows until they would clean up all we gave them and then it could get through the manger and eat where the silage was thrown down until it was satisfied. It kept this up all winter and I never saw a calf do better or look nicer that ran with its mother on good pasture. Everything on the place will eat silage. In conclusion, must say I would not think of doing without an Indiana Silo, and gladly recommend them to any farmer that likes to raise nice stock and keep up the fertility of the soil. Yours respectfully, G. W. LYBROOK, Russiaville, Ind. MILK CHECK INCREASED, Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I bought a silo from your company about two years ago. I can say this much about the Indiana Silo of mine, that it has easily paid for itself during the time I have had it. My silo is 14 x 20. I have a 40-acre farm. Before I had the silo I had hard work to feed 7 cows on my farm. Now with the silo I can feed 16 cows easily and raise 4 to 5 heifer calves every year besides, which I had to pasture somewhere else before, and paid from $28.00 to $30.00 every year for pasture. Now with my silo I save that and can keep more cows besides, and the calves do so much better with the addition of silage. My cows show such a difference by the use of silage that m.y neighbors don't believe me until they see my checks from the creamery. I am milking 10 cows now, which brought me last month, December, 1909, $152.35. Could never do tliat without my silo. Besides, I saved last year on my mill feed, $134.00. I can't see how it is that so many dairy farmers go without a silo. They are losing money every day without a silo. Take it last summer; it was so dry, no pasture, but my silo was nearly half full yet, and I could feed my cows a full ration right along and got big milk checks, where my neighbors hardly got any checks. Now, as far as the silo itself, I don't think there is a better one built than the Indiana Silo. It keeps the silage perfect. Before I bought mine I went all over to see which was the best, but couldn't find any other make as good as the Indiana Silo. Take for instance the doors; they are surely good ones. Close up easily and furnish a fine ladder to climb up on and can never get out of shape. Their staves fitted so perfectly that it was no job to put the silo up, which is quite an item, as I have seen here with others. If I wanted to buy another the Indiana Silo would be my silo. Respectfully WM. KAMMER. Milton Junction, Wis. 47 LIKES IT FOR HORSES AND CHICKENS. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Foi- the past six years I have L^een using the Indiana Silo and consider it one of the best investments I have ever made on the farm. The longer I use it the more I am pleased with it. My exi)erience with it has always been in winter feeding and have fed silage to dairy cows, fattening cattle and young stock and like it very much for chickens. Occacionally I feed it to my horses and they seem to relish it very much. I have always used corn silage and in all my experience consider that silage, in so far as it is a rough feed, is the most economical way of handling roughage. Tlie dimensions of the Indiana Silo Vv-hich I put up are 24 feet high and 16 feet in diameter. Below the silo proper I made an excavation of 3 feet. The silo sets on a foundation of stone, being 18 inches thick, the wall inside being cemented. In putting up the silo it was set a little within the center of the wall. Generally it is advised to bevel the wall where the foundation meets, particularly if the foundation is of any great depth. Although mine is not beveled I have never had any spoiled silage where the foundation and silo proper meet. It is possible that in this region where the corn does not make so much stalk, that it costs more per ton to fill silos than it does farther south, yet from my experience the cost per ton of producing silage is very cheap in this region. I figure the cost per acre of growing corn for silo as follows: In the Far North — Thos. Dailey's Barn and Silo. Lewistown, Minn. Interest on $7r>.OU (Land ) $ 3.7.5 Taxes 30 Seed 20 Plowing, preparing land l.,50 Planting 25 Cultivation 1.00 Cutting corn and filling silo 3.00 Cost per acre $10.00 48 Estimating an acre of corn to produce 12 tons of silage, which is a low estimate for yield, the cost of silage per ton would be 87 ^oc. I feel that I have been liberal in all my estimates. Certainly this is the cheapest form in which feed can be put up, the entire plant preserved in a palatable form, and it has a beneficial effect on the digestive systems of animals. In all my feeding I feel that I have realized a good big profit and I consider my investment in the Indiana Silo one of the best I have ever made on my farm. As to the durability of the Indiana Silo, I believe, considering the high grade of material of which it is made and the workmanship put on it, that with reasonable care it will last 30 to 40 years. THOMAS DALEY, Lewiston, Minn. OVER 1.000 LBS. MORE MILK PER COW. Ia'diana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Having been requested by you (Indiana Silo Co.) to write an article as to the profits the Indiana Silo has given me, I thought I would try to give a few facts as to my profits. By paying twenty-five dollars ($25.00) to a man owning an ensilage cutter and engine I had a 10-acre field of green corn put into the silo. I suppose some of you who have not had experience with the silo will say that there are many other expenses connected with the silo and the filling of it, but that is not the case. Of course it takes a good deal of help to fill the silo, but I believe in the old proverb, "Make hay while the sun shines." By putting in several days of good work filling my silo and exchanging work with my neighbors who had silos to fill, I had the field of green corn stored in the silo for the "rainy days" and every particle of the corn being utilized into a succulent feed of the highest quality. If I would have cut this corn for fodder, but taking the risk of being frost- bitten before ripe, as it was a late piece of corn, I would not have needed the help of the neighbors, but would also not have had half as much feed and of a less nutritive value. Another gain I made by putting the grain into the silo is this: I planted cow peas with the corn so as to make a larger bulk yield per acre. The peas grew so thick that some had crept along the ground. It was not a hard task to cut the peas and corn with a binder, but could not get quite all of the pea vines. A little shower of rain after the corn had been taken off of the field gave the remaining pea vines a second growth. I turned the cattle into the field and it made them good pasture for several days. A year ago last fall I had a similar experience. As soon as the corn was cut 1 sowed the field in wheat. TTiis wheat made 17 bushels per acre. If I would have cut the corn for fodder the wheat would have been sown of least a month later giving a poorer chance for the wheat. Often when I am feeding ensilage on a cold, blustery day I think of the time when I had to go out into the cold, "rain or shine," to haul up feed; and the worst of it v/as to see the cattle waste one-half of it, while now they eat the stalks and all. For the last three years I have kept a record of my herd of cows, and the figures plainly show the results. For the year 1909 (first year feeding ensilage) my herd of 18 cows gave 20,200 lbs. of iijilk more than in 1908. This makes a great profit and I am sorry that I did not buy an Indiana Silo five years ago, the first time the agent wanted to sell me one. I think, however, that my investment in the silo was a good one. I remain yours respectfully, LOUIS KLEINER, Greenville, III. SOME BENEFITS RECEIVED. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I, as the owner of a small farm, would not attempt in this day and age of the world to run a dairy farm without a silo. In the year of 190". I started a small dairy. At the beginning of the winter months I thought I would have plenty of feed; in fact some to sell; but long befoie the winter months were past I discovered that we would have to buy feed, alfalfa and clover and some grain. Hay $ 90.00 Grain 100.00 In the year 1906 I purchased an Indiana Silo from the Indiana Silo Co. At the beginning of the winter we thought we had scarcely half enough feed, but in the latter part of the winter months we were surprised to find that we would have some feed for sale: Hay, amounting to $185.00 Grain amounting to 75.00 Making a total gain over the previous year of Hay $ 90.00 1905 Hay 185.00 1906 Grain 100.00 1905 Grain 75.00 1906 Total $4.'.0.00 All due to the silo, saying nothing of the increased flow of milk. The fol- lowing years have shown similar results. L. S. Keljum's Dairy Wagon, Bethel. Ohio. 1 can truthfully say that the silo reduces the cost of feed 33 per cent, and increases the flow of milk at least 33 per cent., making a gain of 66 per cent, over the old way of feeding. No man can make dairying a complete success without a silo. During the year 1909 my silo has been an inexpressible profit to me. My neighbors who had no silos told me that I would not have corn enough to fill the silo. They had a little more corn and about half the number of cows. Before the winter was over some of them spent as much as $300.00 for feed, while I had some to sell. With the "silo" the farmer can produce his own protein on the farm by filling 5u the silo with corn and soy beans mixed load about, thus saving the great expense of hauling the protein to the farm in sacks costing from $1.75 to $2.25 per 100 pounds. One acre of corn in the silo is equivalent to 5 acres of pasturage, as I have watched closely during the past five years. After turning the cows upon pasture can see no change in the flow of milk, but the test of the milk will be from 1 to 1.5 per cent, higher in winter than in summer. I can proudly say that my silo is of vast profit and importance to me. Expressing my gratitude to the Indiana Silo Co., I remain yours sincerely, L. S. KELLUM, Locust Grove Farm, Bethel, O. NEIGHBORS SAID HE WAS CRAZY. .WAS HE? Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I have had an Indiana Silo for two years. They surely are a success, and I do not believe there is a single Iowa farmer or a farmer in this northern country that can afford to be without a silo. One year ago this winter during the months of January and February we had 8 and 9 cows. Our cream checks were $50.00 per month on silage where on dry feed we only realized $16.00 and $18.00 per month last spring. I felt as though one extreme would follow another, so I prepared for dry weather by putting two acres of clover in my silos. It made me 24 tons of good feed. The neighbors said I was going crazy to put that good clover in there to rot, but when the dry weather did come in August and September I reaped my reward. I was milking 9 cows, one of my neigh- bors was milking 19 cows. I compared cream checks with them. They had clover meadow that they used. I fed the clover silage, and my checks were just double what theirs were per week, and our cows by this time were all strippers excepting one. I could not make dairying profitable without a silo. It is the cheapest feed that can be used for all kinds of stock. Yours truly, VIOLA R. ONTHANK, Grinnell, Iowa. MAKES MONEY TWO WAYS Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — We erected one of your Indiana Silos in 1908, which I find to be a great benefit to my farm. I now see why it always took so much to keep my stock over winter. A silo will bring in the money by the good results and save enough in one winter to pay for the building. The cost of feed has so advanced that we mu~t take into consideration the best method of saving feed. A silo will furnish you a lasting feed with no waste and always ready to be fed and as cheap as can be fed. It can be fed to all stock and is fine to fatten poultry and make hens heap up the egg basket. Before erecting my silo I always filled my barn full of hay and then when time to shred would fill everything full of shredded fodder and by spring everything would be empty and I would be com- pelled to turn in on my pasture early in the spring, but now I let my pas- ture have a good start and my barns have not been empty since I have had the silo. For the past two years we have sold our milk to the Indiana Dairy Supply company of Anderson, and since feeding ensilage it has raised our test 7 per cent, more than we ever tested before and the flow of milk is twice the amount per cow during the winter. I do not see how any one keeping stock can afford to be without a silo. Wishing you succes, I remain yours truly, CHAS C. PAINTER, Daleville, Ind. DOESN'T DIG HIS FEED OUT OF THE SNOW. India>ja Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — The lanner that once uses a silo is convinced as to its necessity to the farmer. My experience dates back to 1900 and 1901, which two years I used a silo. While in the dairy business at Marion. Ind., and the two years I used the silo convinced me that no farmer could profitably milk cows (or feed cattle) without the silo. When I came to southwestern Nebraska, where I now live, I realized the great need of the silo for the farmer and feeder, so I set to writing all the manufacturers of silos for prices, etc., and decided to buy the Indiana Silo, and by getting out and hustling I sold enough to my neighbors to make a carload a,nd by so doing the com- pany paid freight on the carload to my station. ^-^ A. Dillman's Prairie Home, Trenton, Neb. Will just (ell in a few words what my silo did for me in the one win- ter's use which I have used it. With nine cows fed silage for six months I paid for my silo and cutter with butter fat sold and by account kept of investment in silo, cutter and expense of filling and cost of raising corn put in silo my feed cost not to exceed $3. .50 per ton and now as I consider my silo and cutter paid for the first year, my profits from this on will certainly be encouraging, and while I consider the silo a necessity in the way of dollars and cents saved, I also consider it a convenience and sav- ing of labor. I enclose you a photo of my barn and silo showing that I did not have to dig my feed out of the snow this winter, but fed 90 tons of fine feed from my silo without getting out in the bad weather. The cows that vv'ere fed silage produced me butter fat to the amount of the invest- ment in -silo, cutter, etc. I could have sold, any time after March 1st, to the butchers at 4c per lb., as they were any of them fit for the block at that time. Respectfully yours, A. niLT^!\IAX, Trenton, Neb. BLACK HAWK FRUIT FARM, MILO F. NICKERSON, PROP. Lndiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Does a silo pay for itself in Sve months, taking Novem- ber and December of 1908 and January, February and March of 1909? 1 discovered a vast difference from the same length of time of 1909 and 1910. Facts and figures sbow the following results: November and December, 1909 $ 39.55 January, 1910 29.86 February, 1910 22.65 March, 1910 24.33 Total $116.39 November, 1908 $ 11.31 December, 1908 11.75 January and February, 1909 2.85 March, 1909 4.95 Total $ 30.86 Also 35 lbs. of butter fat was made at 30c per lb., in January, 1910, which amounts to $10.50, making a grand total of $126.89 for 1909 and 1910, against $30.86 for 1908 and 1909, a difference of $96.03. N i n e t y - s i X dol ars and three cents difference for a dairy of 6 cows with no other change than silage ration! Now there is just one item to be de- ducted from this amount — $22 was paid out for a fat pig while the year before we fattened our own pig, and a still larger item to be added. Seven tons of hay (worth on the market of Prairie du Chein today $12 per ton, making $84 less hay fed to the herd for the five months just past, as compared with the same length of time a year ago. I have a 12 x 20 silo with a rock basin four feet deep, making a 12 x 24. The rock is cemented. As we get down to the rock we find the silage spoiled about four inches wide all around next to the cement. They cost about $160.00 complete, with a good shingle roof and a 4 x 4 fiume attach- ing the silo to the barn. I had corn enough to have filled this silo full, but the white grubs were very bad here last year, so we filled the silo just half full. We fed two October calves and a yearling and some dry cows, mak- ing about 8 head commencing to feed the silage November 14th. The calves spoken of are two which I bought. Our cows were all strippers or farrow, due to calve in April or May. With the old dry hay ration they 53 Mr. and Mrs. Milo Nickerson, Prairie du Chien, Wis. would all have gone dry sooner or later and we would just about supply our family with milk and butter, so we figure something like this: Credit. Debit. Hay saved $ 84.00 Milk, butter and cream sold over last year 96.03 Charged to putting crop in silo instead of feeding corn to hogs $ 22.00 Cost of silo 160.00 Total 1180.03 $182.00 These are facts which can be proven at any time. Yours truly, MILO NICKERSON, Prairie du Chien, Wis. BELIEVES SILO WILL LAST A LIFETIME. L\'U1ANA SiLO Co., ANDERSON, IND. Gentlemen: — 'Some time ago I received a letter from you asking me to write you about my silo I have been busy so put it off, Ijut I hope to get a prize anyhow. 1 write to say to you personally that I am more than pleased with results. One year ago I purchased an Indiana Silo, 18x36, Yellow Pine, from your general agent, and feel that I must write and tell you I am more than pleased with same. A silo is surely the business way of farming and there is absolutely no better investment for a farmer to make than to put up a silo. It will bring more than 100 per cent, on the investment. I farmed eight years without a silo and feel as though these years were spent foolishly. I will hereby send some figures I have taken from my notebook. I am a dairyman and sell wholesale milk. I made milk without a silo as follows: November, 1908, sold milk for $287.50 December, 1908, sold milk for 343.08 .Tanuary, 1909, sold milk for 305.46 Bought dried brewery grain, same three months averaged $110.70 per month. I milked 30 cows and each cow was given 12 lbs. corn meal daily, or 360 lbs. daily, which totals 10,800 lbs. per month. This year I used a silo and got following results: November, 1909, sold milk for $273.00 December, 1 909, sold milk for 349.35 .lanuary, 1910, sold milk for 348.45 Dried brewery grain same three months averaged $58.88. I milked 25 cows and they werf- given daily 6% lbs. corn meal each, or 162i/^ lbs., totaling 4,875 lbs. per month. If you figure silage for 25 cows three months as near as I can figure, it amounts to about 6 acres. I saved feed 1)111 $155.46 Received more lor milk 34.75 Saved corn meal daily. 197 14 lbs. and milked 5 cows less. This is the result from three months and I think the silo will last as long as I need one. Yours truly, ED. PETERSON, Longview Farm, Lombard, 111. JACOB KUSTER, DEALER IN ALL SIZES OF HARD COAL. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I built and filled my silo in the fall of 190.5 and am glad to say I made enough money above other years to pay for it the first year. First, by increasing my herd from 6 to 10 and since more, and the milk I received more than before; the saving of bran and feed of all kinds. My cows give milk as if on pasture and look glossy and nice. I had the first silo in my neighborhood and since a good many more were built. I would not like to be without a silo, as the silo puts my feed in best shape for the cows or any animal that chews a cud. It saves me a good bit in the way of grinding my grain. I would send you a photo of silo, but have it in the barn. I had exact figures of last year, but have mislaid them. Yours truly, JACOB KUSTER, Selinsgrove, Pa. HOPES HIS EXPERIENCE MAY HELP. Indiana Sii.o Co., Anuekson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Upon request I am very glad to forward you informa- tion as to what the Indiana Silo has done for me and what it will du for others. I purchased one of your Indiana Silos of your agent, Wm. Weaver, : , four years ago last fall. It is a 14- foot by 30-foot of good material K and from all appearances it is as good as the day it was erected. This silo requires from 6 to 9 acres of corn to fill it, according to the growth of the fodder. I am now milking from 1.5 to 18 cows the year around and have since I purchased the silo. My dairy cows are mostly Holsteins and have a fine herd, the silo doing its part toward making them good lookers as well as good milkers. I sell at least $200.00 worth more of hay every year since I got the silo than I did before. We winter from 15 to 20 head of cattle on the silo feed and feeding but little dry feed. There are several of your silos in this locality and are all giving good satisfaction. I would advise all winter milkers to purchase one of the best silos, which would be an Indiana. Any one wishing to buy a t^ilo would be wise to consult an owner of an Indiana first and I am sure he would feel convinced to buy one, especially if he should talk with me, as I cannot praise it too highly. In fact, I would not part with my silo for any amount of money providing I could not get another one like it. I will also enclose a picture of my silo and barn with a few of the cows in case you should care to print it. Hoping that this letter may prove beneficial to some one, I remain yours truly, CHAS.PICKWORTH, Wellington. O., R. F. D. No. 2. 55 Charles Pickworth's Silo and Hol- stein Herd. FOUND SILO LABOR SAVER. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — As you have asked me to forward my experience with a silo I will endeavor to do so, but my experience is one of rare occurrence. My corn had almost reached maturity when it was completely destroyed by hail. The blades were stripped from the stalks and the stalks broken off, having nothing but stalks with a few nubbins. The loss I cannot fully estimate, but as I had seen the results from a silo I concluded I would buy one. 1 had a small dairy of 8 cows, so I bought a 10 x 24-ft. silo. It took 10 acres to fill it. Certainly there was never such material put into a silo for ensilage. Your agent, Mr. A. Seely, saw the field of corn and can verify my statement. I have first figured what it would have cost me to have it cut and put in shocks and then have it shredded and put into the barn. Why I have mentioned shredding is because I would have had to have It shredded, for no man could liusk it by hand and make living wages. It would have made about 6 bushels per acre, in all about 60 bushels on the 10 acres. Following is what it would have cost to put it in the barn, counting all expenses: Cutting 240 shocks at 6c, $14.40. It would have taken about IVo days to shred the 240 shocks. 4 teams at $4.00 per team, for fi/o days $24.00 Engine 9.00 2 men in field at $2.00 per day, 1% days 6.00 2 men as feeders at $1.50 per day, IV^ days 4.50 2 men as haulers at ^I.-'JO per day, l^-^ days 4.50 1 ton of coal 2.50 Meals lor 11 men at 2.t>c per meal 8.25 Cutting 14.40 Total cost for putting in barn $73.15 If I had not i)ut it into a silo I would have had to buy 12 tons of hay extra. This would have cost me $12.00 per ton besides hauling. Follow- ing is cost of hay and hauling: Twelve tons of hay at $12.00 per ton, $144.00; 1 team and 1 man for help for 4^2 days, $20.2.1, counting team at $3.00 per day and man at $1.50. 1 would have had to l)uy 60 bushels of corn extra at 80c, $48.00, and haul- ing, $3.00. Total expense had I not put into silo: Storing in barn $ 73.15 Hay and hauling 164.25 Corn and hauling 51.00 Total $288.40 Following is expense of putting into silo: Cost of silo complete, $129.60; cost of filling, including machine, teams, men, coal and meals, was $30.25; in all, $159.85. Difference of ex- pense, $128.55 in favor of silo. Gain in flow of milk was 2V^ gallons per day, and as I fed 165 days the gain was 412 gallons, re- tailing at 28c makes $115.36, a profit in all of $243.91 for the silo. Taking all in consideration, I do not think it could be beat. Let us take our hats off to the silo! CHAS. PLANCK, Camp Chase, Ohio. P. S.— This was in the fall of 1908. 56 LIKES SILAGE FOR CALVES. IJVL.IANA Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In reply to your letter of recent date in regard to silos and ensilage, will give you the facts as near as I can to the value of ensilage. I have not fed any mill feed since I commenced on ensilage Sept. 1st, 1909. I sold milk and cream to the amount of $1,140.20 from 20 cows from September 1st, 1908, to April 1st, 1909. I paid for feed same months $381.05; and same months, from Sept. 1, 1909, to Sept. 1, 1910, same num- ber of cows. I sold $1,548.10, paid for feed, including cost of filling silos, $302.09, and I have over $400.00 worth of corn and hay and ensilage on hand, while the year before I was out of everything April 1st and longing for the time to come that I could turn on grass, while this year I have no worry as I have enough feed to run to June 1st. I had out the same acreage of corn and hay each year in 1908 and 1909. I had 15 head of yearling heifers in 1909 and 1910. I had the same heifers, only 2 years old, 10 yearling heifers, 8 fall and winter heifers and I figure that the two silos I bought of you have made me an increase of milk and cream $ 407.90 Saving on money paid out for feed 78.96 Feed on hand April 1st, 1910 400.00 Growth on 15 2-year-old heifers 150.00 Growth on 10 1-year-old heifers 100.00 Growth on 8 fall and winter heifers 80.00 Total $1,216.86 I firmly believe that any man in the dairy business will pay for a silo each year two or three times if he is selling milk and if making butter and raising calves he can do nearly as well. It is the finest calf feed I ever saw. By the time a calf is a week old it will commence on ensilage if you have some older ones with it that are already eating it, and at four weeks old you can put them on separated milk and ensilage and they will grow fine and do better than on grass. B. G. PATTERSON, . .Marion, Ind. GLAD ALL THE TIME. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — A few lines about the silo. A little over a year ago I was solicited by Phalen & Cunningham, Newark, Ohio, in regard to pur- chasing a silo from Anderson, Ind. With reluctance I consented. I have been glad of my decision but once, and that is all the time. It far sur- passes my most sanguine expectations in point of convenience, economy and satisfaction. It is like having grass until grass comes again. I have 14 dairy cows, which 1 have fed bountifully twice per day, this being the principal feed, besides feeding two horses a good part of the time. A neighbor remarked the other day that he had not seen a herd of cows in as nice condition this spring. Another said they are all fat enough for beef. 1 have enough silage to last until the first of May. My silo is 12 x 24. I regard a good silo as a good mortgage lifter. I might further add that the flow of milk from my cows has been greatly increased since I am feeding ensilage. Fall cows are seemingly greatly benefited in the flow of milk towards grass time. L. L. RICHEY, Pataskala. Ohio. 67 WHAT 100 BU. OF CORN DID IN SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Axdeksox, Lnd. Gentlemen: — The following Is a true statement as to what I think and what I have done with the silo: I put up my silo last fall, a 10 x 26, holding 43 tons, had 12 acres rented corn on the farm and put half in the silo, which lacked two feet of filling it. Tlie corn failed to ear good. The other half was shredded, making 125 bushels. I took one load out for my hogs before I filled the silo, making about 100 bushels of corn in it. I commenced feeding out of it November 8th. Have wintered 13 last spring's calves and 3 milk cows, 13 sheep, some chickens and have enough feed until May 1st. I had no other feed except some .straw. My sheep are fat and calves look better than the average in my neighborhood. I am sure my silo has paid for itself already. Yours truly, H. A. SHERRILL, Cloverdale, Ind. 33I3 PER CENT INCREASE IN MILK FLOW. Indiana Sii.o Co., Anpeksox, Lnd. Gentlemen: — It is to my certain knowledge a fact that a modern up- to-date silo (such a one as is put out by the Indiana Silo Co., of Anderson, Ind.) is the very best possible investment that a dairyman can make, and the sooner he realizes this the better off he will be. I have a good farm of 132 acres and have been in the milk producing business for 2o years. I keep 59 cows and 1 l)ull. About two years ago I bought two Indiana Silos, one ltix3(i feet, the other KixSG feet. These Frank Pratt's Silos and Barn, Wayne, III. silos more than paid tor tliemselves the first year. 1 do not now use more than one-half the amount of ground feed 1 did before 1 had the silos, and my labor expense item has been cut in two by their use. A farmer using silage is always able to have clear ground, as the corn shocks can be removed immediately, thus allowing them no oppor- tunity to deteriora.te by exposure to the weather, and the ground is always ready to plow when the proper time comes. One acre of silage fodder I have found will go just as far as twice the acreage of dry i'odder. Silage makes the most desirable feed I have yet seen for cattle, and has the advantage of keeping the cows in fine physical condition all year, ind in dry weather the feeding of silage keeps the flow of milk practically uniform and continuous. Last year the milk from my 59 cows netted me $105.00 each for the year, which is an actual increase per cow since the use of the Indiana Silo on my farm of 33 1-3 per cent. Any way I look at it, I cannot help but see that the use of silos has been extremely profitable to me. Their use cuts my labor expense about in half, as the actual requisite labor is reduced fully 50 per cent. It only requires one-half the former amount of acreage for fodder, and 1 have 33 1-3 per cent, more milk to sell. Following I give a table showing my milk shipments for last year, as rendered by the creamery, which 1 consider a very fair showing, and one only made possible by the use of the silo: January 37,846 lbs. February 34,856 lbs. March 37,571 lbs. April 32,776 lbs. May 34,000 lbs. June 35,632 lbs. July 30,982 lbs. August 32,141 lbs. September 32,717 lbs. October 38,496 lbs. November 36,516 lbs. December 42,617 lbs. Total 426,150 lbs. Average per month 35,512% lbs. I think that the invention and use of modern silos is the greatest step forward that has ever been made in the milk producing industry. F. B. PRATT, Wayne, 111. BUTCHER LIKES SILAGE FED CATTLE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In regard to the profits in dollars and cents I am not ab.e to state, as I always fed ensilage in connection with other feed, clover hay and corn fodder and oats straw. I will say I have produced splendid butcher stuff made from ensilage, clover hay and not any corn except what was in the ensilage. I sold a city butcher one spring in the month of April, 9 head at a fancy price and he was skeptical as to their fat and how they would butcher out. So he asked the privilege of butchering one and if it did not show fat on the inside as they looked, he wasn't to take any more of the heifers. So I told him alright. So he commenced to butcher them. He took them all and when he was opening the last one I happened where they butchered in the field. He stated to me: "Do you know what I would do if I owned a farm?" "What would it be?" I said. He stated, "I would build a silo." So I conclude by saying that any farmer in the corn belt on high-priced land that handles young cattle can not afford to do without a silo. Yours truly, SMITH REMSTER, Veedersburg, Ind. 59 ASTONISHING FIGURES. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson", Ind. Gentlemen: — Some actual facts in regard to economy and usefulness of the silo as I have taken from my own observation in feeding silage. First. Buy a silo from some reliable company, air-tight, round, not square, for the feed will not keep good in a square silo. Second. Have some experienced man to erect your silo. If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right. Last fall I put 18 acres of corn in my two silos, 12x24 and 14x24. The corn would have sold for $7.00 or $8.00 per acre in the field; was not very good. I could not attend it on account of the wet weather. I am feeding cows by the mouth for another party and the cows have a straw stack to run to. I am not feeding anxthing else and am keeping the cows to the entile satisfaction of the owner. The silage from that 18 acres will bring $800.00. If anybody would doubt these figures I would show them the accounts as I have kept them by the month, besides having the silos. I can keep a much larger number of stock than I could without the silos. I am making a world of manure from my straw stack, which I consider very valuable to my farm, At the present time it is the feed proposition that is staring the farmer in the face. Buy a silo and you have the problem solved for all time to come. Sincerely yours, JOHN RAUTON, Camby, Ind. SUMS IT UP IN A STRIKING WAY. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Your letter at hand and wish to say while I cannot give any exact figures as to results I do know that on a GO-acre farm with about 25 acres of it too rough to farm and not good pasture. I kept on an average of 20 head of horses and cowp, mostly 10 head of cows and balance young heifers, and a few hogs. I had a 10x30 silo (Indiana), filled it with clover, which fed my cows till corn cutting time, when it was filled with good mature corn, which fed them until clover came again. We sold milk at from $90.00 to $130.00 per month and sold hay to more than balance all the mill feed we bought. The last two seasons we harvested 50 to 45 tons of hay respectively, not counting what we put in the silo. We made manure enough to cover from 15 to 18 acres each year for the last three years. Five years ago T bought this farm for $4,000.00 and it was said to be the poorest farm in the township. I sold this farm in October, 1909, for $10,700.00. Now what sold the farm? Feeding about three times the usual amount of stock with the aid of an Indiana Silo, said silo being in as good condition today as the day it was put up. Last fall I wrote you in regard to another silo for my other farm and the reason you did not hear from me was that I bought two Indiana Silos at a sale here, one 18x30 and one 12x24. both for $98.00. (How is that for bargains?) I have now 113 acres in the home arm, have a barn 36x58, with basement stabling. Will erect both silos this spring. Am milking 10 head of cows now and selling on an average of about 24 gallons per day, while if I had a silo I could double this twice over. Will some time send you a photo of my silos and barn. I sum the thing u;i this way: A silo, more cows; more cows, more manure; more manure, more corn and hay; more corn and hay, more silos, and always the Indiana Yellow Pine Silos. Yours verv trulv, JOHN W. REIMER, Arnold, Pa. 60 WONDERFUL GAINS ON ONE STEER. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I have used silo feed lor the last four years. The first year I bought only one of your silos as a test, and found it what I wanted. The following year I bought two more. I now have in use three of your 120-ton silos, 18x24, holding 360 tons of feed. Two years ago I made a test of the silo feed on 110 head of steers, 2-year-olds coming 3. They averaged 1,020 lbs. when started on this feed. I fed them five months and at the end of this time they averaged 1,435 lbs. and were in fine condition with a good finish. These cattle were fed 50 lbs. of silo feed and 1 peck of crushed corn (cob and grain) each day, with plenty of clover hay. I found that while feeding the silo feed the cattle did not eat near as much hay as they did when feeding dry feeds; they would leave everything for the silo feed. In this bunch of cattle I had one steer that I experimented on for my own special benefit. I se- lected, as I thought, a steer that would make a good gain on a long feed, and started him on full silo feed and crushed corn on the 5th day of December, 1908, and fed him until the 22nd day of December, 1909. This steer weighed 1,230 lbs. on December 5th, 1908, and on December 22nd, 1909, when he was slaughtered, he weighed 2,480 lbs. TTie first five months he made an average gain of 5 lbs. per day. This steer was not like most cattle that have been fed on a long feed — big lumpy fat stuck on him. His fat was nice and even throughout the meat and well mixed. Silo feed will produce both meat and fat and does not produce that big lumpy fat that you get from using other feed. This steer, dressed, netted 65 per cent, and I assure you was a great piece of meat. The 110 head of cattle mentioned above, fed by me, netted on the block 62 per cent. I cut every one of these cattle over the block and disposed of them through my meat store, in this city. I feel safe in saying that there was never a bunch of cattle of the same number, fed in any other manner, that equaled these cattle. These cattle cut just as firm and the meat was just as solid as any corn-fed cattle that I have ever slaughtered, and I have slaughtered thousands of them. I am now feeding 100 steers that will average about 1,275 lbs. and they are doing fine. The reason I use silo feed is because it is the cheap- est and best feed I can find, after having tried every kind of feed offered. I can produce more flesh and fat and place it on the cattle more evenly than with any fed I have ever used. I have had fifteen years' experience in this business and have averaged 100 cattle per year of my own feeding. My silo feed this year stands me $4.13 per ton in the silo, and my silos were filled with corn that made 70 bushels to the acre. Silo feed is the best and cheapest on earth. This is my experience with silos feed, and all these statements I can back up. Yours truly, CHAS. P. SINDLINGER, Shelbyville, Ind. CATTLE LEAVE PASTURE FOR SILAGE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — The silo I bought of you in February, 1909, came all right. Every piece was all right, first class and fit perfectly, it being the second one bought in this part of the country. By the aid of a carpenter and my planning to erect without scaffolding, 1 placed a ladder on the inside, reaching clear to the lop of silo, putting rod through the top end of ladder and legs so we could move it around, and then i)laced one man on top of the ladder and one man in center on short ladder and one man on concrete, that is the bottom, and one man to place staves, and we soon erected it. I filled it with 75 tons of sweet fodder after corn had been taken to canning factory. Began feeding December 1st 12 head of cattle and 8 head of horses. Sold one heifer the middle of March to butcher, fat and plump, and it is a milk producer. This heifer was fed no grain, nothing but silo ensilage. Mr. Macey at Union City was to see our silo and says that he has four men contracted for silos and there will be a number sold through this part. My cattle come to barn from pasture field at noon and we put them in the barn and feed silage. Horses will leave bright timothy hay for silage. I can say this for the silo: A man that farms will not be a farmer unless he has a silo. FRANKLIN P. SIPE. Union City, Ind. SUCCESS WITH STEERS. iNDiA^fA Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen:— The 16x34 Yellow Pine Silo we purchased of you last fall arrived in good shape and we found it easily set up. The purchasing of a silo we had been considering lor a number of years. We hesitated on Jacob Rupel's Market Toppers. making the pioneer start, but now see the fallacy of hesitating. We filled our silo with 13 acres of corn when it was about ripe enough for the shock. In finishing filling we run about 30 barrels of water on top. The waste was only about a manure spreader load. We opened the silo on the 27th and commenced feeding 3.5 steers, of which we send picture. We have been feeding cattle more or less for 20 years. In 1904 we fed and showed the first-prize yearling of the Southwest District at Chicago and do not believe that we have ever had cattle do so well or make so economical gains. Yours truly, .TACOB RUPBL & SON, Bryant, Ind. 63 PAID FOR ITSELF ON ONE BUNCH OF CALVES. Indiana Silo Co., Andekso.n, L\i». Dear Sir: — In reply to yours of March 3rd. would say I bought a silo by much talking and persuasion in the fall of 1908 and tilled it with ensi- lage or corn and then I bought 20 Kansas calves that were so poor I was ashamed to have anyone see me drive them home. It was the 6th day of December that I commenced to feed them ensilage with a little hay. Along about the first of June they had done so well and gained in flesh the butcher wanted to buy them for beef. Besides feeding the calves I fed S head of milch cows, which gave more milk than they ever did before. Fed some to my horses. I bought the silo on one year's time. It cleared itself, as I consider, the next June and I paid for it. I consider it was the best investment I ever made as it paid for itself the first winter. I know alone hay would never have brought those calves out in the same length of time. So much for the first winter. On account of the failing health of my wife we left the farm in June and rented it for three years. I made a sale April 9th and then had 15 tons of ensilage in the silo, yet the renter bought the calves and ensilage of corn. He had fed it all out by the first of June. Now you can see if the silo was a profit to me or not. I consider my silo paid for itself the first winter. If I never go on the farm again I consider I am ahead, but if I do I consider the silo is the best money making thing on the farm. Yours with best wishes. C. S. PADEN, San Diego, Cal. PLEASANT VIEW STOCK FARM. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Three years ago I erected my first Indiana Silo, 14x24, and was so much pleased with the results that I put up another one the following year. Last fall somehow I thought I would not put one up, but gave the company my order for a 12 x 24 to put up this fall, 1910, but I am figuring to change it to a 16 x 30, so I will have most of my corn crop into silage, and have it ready to feed instead of bad weather overtaking it in shocks out in the field, as I have some at the present time, which puts me at least $300.00 in the hole. There is nothing like a silo to take care of a corn crop. I feed silage to 38 head of pure bred Holsteins, feed about 40 lbs. to milch cows, and the young stock according to age. One of my cows. General Paul De Kols Marreta, No. 41204, when fresh, gives from 68 to 74 lbs. of milk for six or eight months, daily, and a num- ber of others do as well. I feed about 8 lbs. of Hammond's dairy feed per head besides the silage, and when milking time comes it takes but a little while for 12 or 14 cows to fill six cans per day. When I put my first silo up my neighbors snickered to themselves and said when they got hungry for sauer kraut they would come over. Since then a large number of silo.? have gone up around here and I think I can help the Indiana Silo Co. to place a few more when silo time comes again. There is nothing like an Indiana Silo for me with plenty of good silage in it to feed every day in the year. It keeps your cattle slick all the way from the old cow down to the young calves. My farm consists of 95 acres. I keep 5 horses that I feed silage three times instead of oats or corn and there is no one who has horses that look better than mine. Yours truly, H. C. RATHMANN Hebron, Ind. HOPES EVERY FARMER WILL HAVE A SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Henry Stallo's Silo and Part of His Family, Lexington Pike, Ky. Gentlemen: — I am mailing to day under separate cover a picture of my silo. I must say that it is one of the most needed articles for the dairyman. It is certainly a profit to every farmer. It has saved me in the three months that I fed en- silage, from $100.00 to $125.00, which is certainly a great saving to me. I must also admit that as soon as I quit feeding ensilage I re- ceived from 8 to lo lbs. a week less butter. Hoping that your business will be very prosperous and that you will be able to convince every farmer in the United States of the great profit-sharing silos, T remain yours, verv truly, HENRY STALLO, Lexington Pike, Ky. COWS FAT AND HEALTHY. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Last year your agent came to my farm and tried to sell me a silo. At first I was not much interested in it, but he talked so long that I bought one. It was one of your medium size ones, 12 x 28. The silo came about the first of May and I was very much satisfied in the shape it came, not a stave was cracked. I set it up the 15th of September and everything went O. K. Our neighbors never saw such a durable, strong, air-tight silo in their lives. I have seen many silos myself and took careful notice to their doors. All of them had 1% inch doors, and were very light in weight. My silo has 2-inch doors perfectly air-tight and perfect fit. I filled my silo about the first of October. Your book tells us that a silo 12 x 28 takes 8 acres of corn, but I sowed only 6 acres and I filled it twice, and when I was through I had one-halt acre left. I started to feed the 20th of November, 18 milch cows twice a day. Only a little of it was spoiled on top. I will have enough until May 20th, making 6 months in all. Now here are some of the profits of getting the silo: Each month the milk averaged $7.50 more than without a silo In six months it would be six times $7.50, which equals $45.00 in milk only. Eight tons of hay were sold at $15.00 per ton, equaling $120.00 more than other years. In all the profits were $120.00 and $45.00, equals $165.00. I paid $150.00 for the silo, which leaves me $15.00. Fifteen dollars and the silo in one year. I cannot praise the silo enough. Sometimes I think about buying another. Now another thing: Look at my cows — they are fat and healthy. The butcher can come now and pick any one out and it is ready for market.- Other years they would look like broomsticks. This is all I will say about the silo, but I like the Indiana Silo the best. JOHN SCHUITEMA, Hudsonville, Mich. FOUND SILO VALUABLE FOR SUMMER USE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen:— In the year 1889 we were persuaded to put up a silo to furnisti ensilage for our dairy herd that had formerly been fed on dry fodder and husked stover. This silo was a stave silo made from 2x6 White Pine staves, neither beveled, tongued nor grooved, but hooped with Ts-iii<^"ti iron hoops, which drew up tight when filled, and gave us good ensilage. In 1901 we bought a Kalamazoo stave silo of the Williams Mfg. Co. This was still an im- provement over our first silo. In 1908 we felt the need of more silo room, when, after examining several of the best makes of silos, we bought two 16 X 30-foot Gulf Cypress Indiana Silos, which were promptly shipped and reached us in good condition. Our carpenter, who had never put up a si o, with the aid of two green men, pue the.se silos up in two days. The bill was all complete, not a stave, hoop, lug or burr was missing, and everything went together easy and right, quite different from other makes of silos that arrive with something gone in most every case. The latter part of September we filled these silos with Eureka ensilage corn. In December we began feeding from these Indiana Silos. We found this ensilage the best kept ensilage we ever fed. About May 15, 1909, we quit feeding ensilage until August 10th, when on account of hot weather, poor pasture and swarms of flies, our cows were shrinking on their milk flow so badly that we turned to our Indiana Silo for relief, and found only a very small amount had spoiled as the silo had remained tight right through the hot, dry weather of summer. We began feeding ensilage again, when inside of 10 days, our cows had gained an average of 8 lbs. of milk for each cow per day, which, at li/oc per lb., made an average gain of 12c per cow per day, which, with a herd of 30 cows, would soon pay for an Indiana Silo. We recommend the Indiana Silo for the company is composed of straight, honest, upright men, who do just as they agree. The workman- ship is superior to all other makes of silos. The splice is the best ever invented. The door frames are strong and make a continuous opening. Tile doors do not stick like doors of other makes of silos. The door fasteners are very simple and make the best kind of a ladder to go up and down on. We are very glad to indorse the Indiana Silo and recommend the company, who have made it possible for the dairymen of this land to se- cure so good a silo for so little money as the Indiana Silo. F. W. PIERCE, OF KNAPP & PIERCE, East Claridon, Ohio. PERFECTLY SATISFIED. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen:— Received your letter O. K. Was very glad to hear from y^u. I will recommend the silo to every farmer living in a corn growing state. If I had not had the silage my cattle would have starved for I ran short of feed. I did not get all of my corn husked last fall and was short of hay. I would not be without the silo or silage for ever so much if I could not get another. I have three important reasons: First, because there is a saving in feeding of silage as every part of the corn is eaten; whereas, with the vip a silo and I know he never will regret it. Yours truly, FRANK SAPP, Amherst, Ohio. 74 WOULD BORROW MONEY AT 10% TO BUY A SILO. Gentlemen:— I put up one of your silos last September, 12x28, and filled it with nine acres of corn. Six acres of small yellow corn which I bought and three acres of big speckled corn which I raised, which made the finest feed that I ever fed in my twelve or fifteen years of dairy experience. I began feeding the 6th of November and fed twelve head of cattle, fed from half a bushel to three pecks per cow three times a day ac- cording to the amount of milk the cow was giving. I also fed 40 head of hogs once a day several bushels and my chickens a bushel a day. I fed until I had my sale on the second of February and had fed less than three acres of corn. I put the three acres of speckled corn on top and I was still feeding speckled corn. I fed ten bushels of ground oats in connection with the ensilage and about half as much rough- ness as I did without the silo, and with about one-fourth of the grain, Emiyn E. Smith's Silo at Royerton, Ind. and had a great deal better profit from my cows than I ever did. My cows done far better on the ensilage than they did on bluegrass and clover pasture. My neighbors said they never saw cows in as good a fix and doing as well in the winter as mine were. They all said it was the ensilage. I sold calves that had just been weaned, raised on separated milk, ensilage, and a little alfalfa hay that sold at my sale for $24.00 to ?34.00. My cows made me an average of $63.00 per head and my two-year-old Jersey male brought $79.50 and I gave the silo the credit. If I ever go into the dairy business again out here or any place else I will have an Indiana Silo. I think they are by far the best silo on the market. If I did not have the money to buy a silo I would bor- row the money if I had to pay ten per cent, interest, for I know it will pay for itself the first year. I didn't think I could afford to buy a silo but I found out that the silo will make you able to own one and in a very few years will save you enough that you will be able to own two and have a good bank account besides. 75 My advice to anyone on a farm keeping stock would be to order an Indiana Silo this Spring and put it up this Summer and have it ready to fill next Fall and get started right and get the best results out of your corn. How long will three acres of corn last to cut it up and feed the old way to twelve head of cattle, 40 head of hogs and a hun- dred and twenty-five chickens? Yours very truly, EMLYN E. SMITH, 1012 E. Monroe Ave., Colorado Springs, Colo. 12x30 SILO EARNS $442.43 FIRST YEAR. Indiana Silo Co., Andeksoin, Ind. Gentlemen: — I have an Indiana Silo, 12 by 30 feet, which I put up in August, 1906. I am in the dairy business and keep 16 Jersey cows. From Sept. 1, 190.5, to Sept. 1, 1906, (the year prior to my feeding ensilage) my creamery checks amounted to $847.37. From Sept. 1, 1906, to Sept. 1, 1907, my checks amounted to $1,208. ;"i5. The same cows were in the herd both years, except two cows which 1 sold and replaced them by younger cows. The ration the first year was, 19 tons of mixed hay (for the whole year), one feed of corn fodder a day, 4 quarts of mill feed a day to each covv' and ten small ears of corn a day. The ration the first year I fed ensilage was 12 tons of mixed hay for the entire year, two quarts of mill feed per day to each cow and two feeds of ensilage per day. The ensilage was fed from Dec. 1st to May 1st the following Spring. So the silo saved me in one year as follows: $1,208.55— $847.37— $361.18 Increase in creamery checks $361.18 19 tons hay — 12 tons-7 tons, 7 tons at $12.75 per ton 89.25 $184-2 (saving on mill feed) 92.00 Total $442.43 So in one year my silo made me $442.43, saying nothing of the labor saving or caring for my corn crop, that is, husking, cribbing, stacking fodder, etc. I will also state that my cows came out in the Spring looking much better for having been fed on ensilage. I will also add that it took 12 acres of my corn croj) to fill my silo in 1906, whereas, in 1909 it took but 5V^ acres to fill it. This shows what the silo and cows are doing for the soil. Although the mercury here registered 8 degrees below zero in January the ensilage around the walls of my wood silo was never frozen so much but what I could easily dress it off with my six fined fork. I visited a neighbor who has a cement block silo and looking into it saw the ensilage was frozen all around the outer edge next to the blocks from 12 to 14 inches and the tenant told me the only way he could loosen it was by the use of a grubbing hoe. If any one doubts this I can furnish the man's name to a sworn statement. Give me a wood silo every time. The man who is trying to farm without a silo is behind the times about as far as the man who cradles his wheat instead of cutting it with a binder, or flails instead of threshes. Ensilage is even better, if possible, for sheep than cows. I want another silo, — if I put one up it will be a full length stave Indiana silo. Yours very truly, E. E. SHAMAN. Centerburg, Ohio. 76 POOR CORN PUT IN SILO GOES AS FAR AS GOOD CORN FED DRY. Lndiaisa Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Your letter received, asking testimony on the Indiana Silo. I will say this, that if I would have known ten years ago what I know now I should have had one then. I have one silo from the Indiana Silo Co. and consider it the most profitable investment a man could make. (1) Silage comes the nearest to nature's food of anything one can have for winter. Almost everything relishes it. Even the poultry we have, about 600 head, all eat it. (2) You take very poor or late corn, put it in the silo and I figure that one acre of this poor corn put in the silo, say it yields 10 bushels per acre, is equal in feeding value to one acre of good corn, say 40 bushels. As I have had cows all my life and ship milk I used to grind the corn and feed it in the fodder. I never got the results out of it towards what I get out of the silo. It is less labor and expense. When I go to milk my cows' bags are just stiff, milk running out, where feeding in any other way I would get about one-half of the milk. I have 15 little calves. I feed them mostly silage and they are doing fine without any other grain. Yes, gentlemen, I think lots of my silo and am thinking of building another one this year. I hope you will read my few lines with satisfaction and allow me for them what you think they are worth. What I say are actual facts. If you think my few words have any weight in the contest give it to me. Yours truly, MILTON THIEL. Hebron, Ind. KEEP THE BOYS AND GIRLS ON THE FARM. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — /Enclosed find my picture. I am 19 years old. It takes me about 25 minutes to feed our 19 head of cattle and put them in the barn. Our silo is 16x24 and it only took a little over four acres to fill it. We could not have fed our cattle with that amount of fodder, and it is much better feed this way. My father purchased a silo two years ago. Will say that we are well pleased with it. I would not stay on the farm if I did not have a silo. Now I can do the feeding myself, in good or bad weather, while my father is at other work. Our cows commence to bellow when I go to the barn and do not stop till I let them in. Even our little Angora goat eats it. Miss Lena Saathoff. Walsh- This is the first testimonial I have ever ... Ill written and I think I ought to have a prize, ' ' ■ as I believe this is the only testimonial you will get from "A Farmer's Daughter." Yours respectfully, LENA SAATHOFF. Walshville, 111. WILL FEED DURING SUMMER. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Dear Sirs: — In the year 1908 I fed 7 head of horses, 10 head of cows, 10 head of calves of different ages. The cost of the bran for my cows was $250.00, $150.00 worth of hay, 100 shocks of fodder worth $50.00, making a total of $450.00. In the year 1909 I built an Indiana Silo and fed the same amount of stock as in the previous year. My silo holds 100 tons in which I put 18 acres of corn. That would make about 20 bushels per acre which would amount to $180.00. I also raised $150.00 worth of hay but sold $80.00 worth, thus leaving $70.00 in hay fed to my stock. I now have 40 tons of silage in my silo which will feed my stock during the summer and will yet save me $100.00 worth of bran and mill feed. Thus leaving my actual expense for this year $150.00, compared with $450.00 for the previous year, leaving a gain of $300.00, which more than pays for my silo and expense of filling. Respectfully yours, H. THOMAS. Bloomingdale, Indiana. WOULD QUIT FARMING RATHER THAN DO WITHOUT SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I found my silo I bought from the Indiana Silo Com- pany entirely prefect. I never saw a silo where the ensilage kept so good near the door frame as in the Indiana Silo. My silo cost me complete, $150.00, which I have had one year now and I have nad 11 cows for the last three years. In the one year that I have had the silo my cows have gained $180.00 over the two years with- out one. Another thing I have never seen feed as good as ensilage for cows. Every year my cows did not want to lose the afterbirth but this year I fed ensilage and I had no trouble at all. Every three hours after calving they lost the afterbirth. Next, ensilage is good to give the cows appetite. My cows never ate so good as long as I have been farming as they do now. I would rather not be a farmer than to be a farmer without a silo. Yours truly, JOHN URBAN, R. F. D. No. 34, Box No. 97. Elkhart, Wis. INDIANA SILO CUSTOMERS MAKE MONEY. Indiana Silo Co., Andekson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In regard to your recent request will say that I had great results from the Indiana Silo, and about the leaking part will say it doesn't leak or freeze a bit more than a stone silo. And besides that the first soft day we have it comes off and the silage is just as good on the side as in the middle. In my judgment I prefer the Indiana Silo to a stone silo. I must say that the Indiana Silo saved me about $200.00 in hay last year. That is not bad. Now in the ground feed, bran or corn, the Indiana Silo saved me $150.00. That is in fine feed. Was a big price last year, but a farmer with an Indiana Silo makes money. If he doesn't it isn't the Indiana Silo's fault. Yours truly, HENRY VAN DE HEI, R. F. D. No. 2, De Pere, Wisconsin. PREFERS STAVE TO CEMENT SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — A little more than a year ago I became somewhat aroused in dairying and was led to purchase, a little later, a few head of registered Jersey cattle. The question of how to feed for the best profit then confronted me. Upon consulting farm papers,, dairymen that 1 happened to meet, and Bulletin 155 of our Experiment Station, it dawned upon me that a silo was necessary for most profit. Then the question, "What shall I build, cement or wood?" It became my priviiege to visit a farm where a cement and a wood silo stood side by side and filled under like conditions. Being interested and desiring the best, I asked, "Which silo do you like best?" The answer was, "We throw a great deal more spoiled ensilage out of the cement silo than the wood. We like the wood silo the best." Upon examining catalogs of different makes of silos I decided the Indiana Silo had them all beat, so I pur- chased a small one. One year's experience has been so satisfactory that the small one has been sold to a neighbor and is being rep.aced with a larger one. Why am I so well pleased? Because I can make one acre, by feed- ing silage, do what two would the old way of feeding. The year pre- vious I found it took 25 pounds of hay for one cow. Ten cows consumed 250 pounds a day. In 180 days they would consume 22 1/^ tons of good hay. Three and one half acres of corn filled my silo, which will feed ten cows 180 days' full feed of 40 lbs. each daily. We feed a little hay in connection with silage but find a cow that eats 40 lbs. of silage will eat very little hay. We fed less than four tons of hay to the ten cows, or two acres of hay. Three and one-half acres of silage and two of hay make five and one-half acres to feed the ten cows 180 days. Twenty- two and one-half tons of hay in the same field where the corn was raised for silage required 11^4: acres to produce it. The cows produced more on 5 1/2 acres where silage was fed than on 11^/4 acres of the clover hay. The silo has exceeded my expectations and I know that one who does not feed silage cannot compete with those that do feed it. I take great pleasure in recommending the Indiana Silo as a money saver, for feed in these times means money. Yours respectfully, C. A. UNDERWOOD. West Mansfield, Ohio. WOULD NOT HAVE MADE A CENT. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Dear Sirs: — You asked me to send you an article concerning my silo for your contest. I put up a 16x30 silo last fall and have fed 20 head of milch cows and 10 head of young stock on the silage since November 20th, besides feeding it to my calves, chickens and pigs, and I never had my stock in as good condition nor my cows give so much milk in the winter time at so small cost tor feed, and I have enough silage left to feed the stock for two months yet. My cows did not eat to exceed eight pounds of hay apiece each day. It cost me on an average of 18c a day for rough- age and grain for my cows and they paid me a good profit in butter fat and if I had had to feed them all hay for roughage at the prevailing price I would not have made a cent. I know by this year's experience that silage is the cheapest rough feed on the farm, even cheaper than pasture. Wishing you a prosperous year, I remain, yours sincerely, T. C. THOMAS. Goodell, Iowa. INDIANA SILO COMPANY FULFILLS ITS CONTRACTS. Indiana Silo Co., Akderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In regard to feeding silage to beef cattle for profit, 1 will say that I have been in the cattle-raising business for the past thirty years. It was formerly my custom to feed liberally with corn during the winter months, which was very expensive, and finish on grass, but feed stuffs are now becoming too high to feed cattle profitably in that way. Five years ago I bought an Indiana Yellow Pine silo, which is still in the very best state of preservation, and since that time have fed silage to all classes of farm animals with good results and quite a nice profit over what I formerly thought was a good profit. The silo has also in- creased my feeding capacity at least one-third. I can furthermore say that I have never had cattle go off of feed on silage as they will some- times do when fed a heavy grain ration. It is a well known fact that wet shock corn from the field has a tendency to scour cattle which never occurs when feeding silage. Cattle will go on grass in the Spring with far less shrinkage than when fed dry feed. The solution is simply this, that they do not need to go through that radical change from dry feed to a succulent one. The first year I owned the silo I kept no record of profits, but when Spring came I found enough hay in the barn to more than pay for my silo, which other years would have been fed. This alone was enough to convince me that the silo was a great investment. The following facts and figures are of 31 grade shorthorn steers which were bought locally at an average cost of $4.15 per cwt. in the Fall. These steers went into the feed lot on Jan. 1, 1909, averaging 960 lbs. on a ration of corn silage, shock corn and linseed meal. They were fed this ration for 120 days or until May 1st, when they were turned on clover and timothy pasture. They sold July 8, 1909, averaging 1,371 lbs. and sold at home for $6.35 per cwt., making a total gain of 410 lbs. per head or 2.19 lbs. per head per day, therefore, 31 steers Jan. 1, '09, 29,780 lbs. at $4.15 per cwt $1,235 87 85 to 90 tons silage at $3.00 per ton $270 00 300 bu. shock corn at 50c per bu 150 00 2 tons linseed meal at $30 per ton 60 00 68 days pasture at $1.50 per month per head 105 40 Total cost of feed $ 585 40 Cost of cattle and feed $1,821 27 July 8, '09, selling price 31 steers 42,500 lbs. at $6.35 $2,698 75 Jan. ]. '09, cost price 31 steers 29.780 lbs. at $4.15 1,235 87 $1,462 88 Less value uf feed 585 40 Net profit on steers $ 877 48 Profit on hogs following 170 00 Total net profit $1,047 48 These steers were very fat when sold and demanded the high price of the season in our locality. In fact I do not believe that I realized the gains on grass that I would in ordinary circumstances as the steers were most loo fat when turned out. I consider the silo one of the best investments any farmer can make, either large or small, and the only thing I regret is that I did not erect one fifteen years sooner. 1 have a neighbor who claims he can winter 80 his cattle as ctieap on silage as he can graze them. I do not hesitate to recommend the Indiana Silo as it is superior to any I have seen both in workmanship and quality. As to the Indiana Silo Co. I can say that they have always iulfilled contracts with me to the letter whether made through their represen- tatives or direct. It is certainly a pleasure to do business with such a firm. Thanking you for your courteous treatment in the past and wishing you success, I am, yours very truly. D. K. WILSON. Tarlton, Ohio. USED SILO FOR TWELVE YEARS. Indiana Silo Co., Andebson, Ind. Gentlemen: — 1 received your letter of inquiry in regard to the profits received from the use of silo feed. I have fed this feed now about 12 years. Of coarse I had a very inferior silo to start on but since I bought of you I find my profits much greater. I ran out of silo feed in April. I was then ship- ping milk to Jessup & Antrim. 1 shipped 4S gallons per day. I had a herd of 14 cows, part of them nearly dry, and I was obliged to feed dry fodder which I cut fine and mixed the same amount of other feed with it. as I did when I Filling Mr. Neimeyer's Silo. fed silage, and in three days from the time I made the change I lost 8 gallons of milk, which at that time sold for $1.00 per can of 8 gallons, or 12'i4c per gallon, which would be $186.00. My loss in that one month was $1.00 per day, which means 31 days, $31.00. I also find my stock keeps In better flesh. I bought a bull for $14.00, two years old and des- perately poor. In 18 months he weighed 2,020 pounds and was sold at the stock yards by Mr. Sells for $87.50, a difference of $73.50, besides the use I had of him. C. H. NEIMEYER, R. F. D. No. 21, Bridgeport, Indiana. 81 Mr. Neimeyer's Dairy Hera, Ben Davis, Ind. LIKES INDIANA SILO DOOR FRAME BEST. Indiana Sii.o Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen :^ — I bought a 14x30 Oregon Fir, stave silo, of your agent, Mr. Bowler, and to say I am well pleased with my purchase is but mildly expressing my appreciation of same, and what it has done for me. I have fed twenty-five cows and heifers, fifty head of sheep twice a day, forty hogs, six horses and three colts once a day. Started to feed the first of November and will have more than I will use in feeding until May 15th, but will appreciate having some for July and August. 1 think that the corn crop put into a sic will make double the money that it will in any other way and especially in a dairy country. I think that for any one living on laud selling for $100.00 to $150.00 per acre it would be a very wise plan to cut the pasturage down and build enough silos to feed the year around. I hope to have another the same as the one I now have in the near future. I cannot say too much for ensilage as a feed for all kinds of stock, and think anyone in the corn belt who does without one is doing an injustice to himself and stock, and in purchasing think it impossible to do better than to deal with the Indiana Co., as I have found them to be right and to send just what they represent. Hoping that all users of silos are as pleased as I am, I remain, JESSE UTTER. Stoughton, Wis. ALFALFA MAKES GOOD ENSILAGE. IxDiANA SiLO Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen — I keep a dairy of forty cows on my little farm west of town and raise alfalfa to feed them, and I have never found anything to compare with it for producing milk, although we often experience some dilhculty in taking care of the first crop on account of it coming during the spring rains. Two years ago 1 had a big yield and as the weather was bad for curing hay I conceived the idea of filling a vacant ice house with alfalfa as it iell from the mower, tramping it in as best we could and awaited results. Soon after we began feeding it to our cows and I was so well pleased ihat it did not take much persuasion to sell me an Indiana Silo, which I filled last Fall with silage corn and green alfalfa after running it through an ensilage cutter, alternating each load until the building was two-thirds full, when the corn ran out and the balance was filled with the fourth cutting of alfalfa. The past winter, as everybody knows, was a very bad one for the average dairyman, but we kept up our flow of milk better than ever before in winter and with little or no grain, which was a great saving in expense. I shall fill my silo at least one-third full of the first cutting of alfalfa and the balance will handle the same as last year. I not only wintered twenty brood sows and shoats on ensilage, but twelve calves that could not have gotten along without sweet milk, which would have brought the cost of rearing to a prohibitive price. I think they are the best lot of winter calves I ever had anything to do with. I built an alfalfa barn last summer and I now regret that I did not put the money in two silos, which I might have done and had a superior feed for my stock. O.E.WALKER. Sheridan, Ind. LET CORN GET TOO RIPE. ImjiANA Silo Cu., Andekson, Ind. Gentiemen:— I bought an Indiana Silo in 1908, 14x26, two-piece staves, — tilled it with 12 acres corn that would make 25 bushels per acre. Took one and one-half days to fill it at $40.00 per day for every- thing. Was inexperienced in silo filling and let the fodder get too dry, did not wet it, so it did not keep very well. Fed it to the milch cows seven months and twenty head stock cattle for three months all they would eat, besides ten horses once a day. Kept no record of milk, but Buildings on Ridge Point Farm of W. W. Willeford, Greenville, III. the stock cattle gained one pound per head per day for the full time. Filled silo with green corn last year and it is relished much better by my stock. I send you a poor photo of my barn and silo for I want that book. How soon will it be printed? Yours truly, W. W. WILLEFORD. Rural Route No. 7, Box No. 44. Greenville, 111. STARTS HENS LAYING. INDIANA SiLo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I received your letter the other day in regard to your silo. It is the most profitable building on the place. It has paid for itself In one year, saving fifteen tons of hay the first year. I am feeding now 36 shoats, 40 sheep, 28 head of cattle, 5 horses and 128 chickens. It Is very nice to start chickens to laying. Twelve cows brought me $122.75 in the month of January. I am very well pleased with the ensilage. Five of my neighbors who have looked at the lumber in the silo, say that the Indiana Silo is the only kind they will build. Yours truly, HERMAN WITT, Ripon, Wis. WAS DISCOURAGED BEFORE HE HAD SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, I.xd. Dear Sirs: — I have been in the dairy business for the past ten years and was beginning to be discouraged when at lasi 1 turned to the silo and as there are a number oi: different kinds of silos I began to investigate and found that the Indiana Silo was giving the best results at the least expense to the farmer, so I decided to build one. It is now over a year and my silo is paid for many times. I can honestly say that dairying without a silo is a failure. I will try to explain what the Indiana Silo has done for me: I have the Guernsey cattle and find them good milk, butter or cheese producers. My herd of twenty five grade Guernsey cows used to furnish me $74.58 per month, but the feed cost me $53.42 per month, leaving $21.16 gain per month. This year from the same cows I received $146.85 per month and the cost of the feed was $38.20 per month, leav- ing a gain of $108.65, or $87.49 per month to the credit of the silo. Yet this does not give the Indiana silo enough credit. Words cannot express my satisfaction from it. Now if these few lines will help to introduce the Indiana Silo you are entirely welcome to them as I am well pleased and will recommend the Indiana Silo to anyone. Yours respectfully, CONRAD VENHANS, R. F. D. No. 1, Fond du Lac, Wis. LET THE SILO BE THE NEXT IMPROVEMENT. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In reply to your letter of March 16th offering $50.00 in prizes for the three best articles on the profits of using a silo, I would say that I cannot give exact figures showing just what the profits from the use of my silo are but I feel that for feeding dairy cows or grow- ing stock the feeding value of an acre of corn is increased from 50 to MH) per cent. Preserving the plant at a time when its appetizing and nutritive qualites are at their best, and most evenly distributed through- out the stalk, is a great factor in getting the largest possible feeding value of it together with the smallest of visible waste and consequently the largest cash returns. These things the silo does effectively. Stock does much better than on corn fodder and cows give more milk on it. This increased thrift and production is money in the stock- man's or dairyman's pocket. Putting a corn crop in a silo saves shocking and stacking or husking and does away with all probability of being caught by a deep snow with your corn in the field, often so tightly Iroztn down that it is impossible to get out. The increase in net returns from feeding corn fodder and being sure that your corn crop will be where you can get it for feed in the cold winter weather, with less ex- pense of labor than is required to harvest it any other w^ay, is a good reason for making the silo the next improvement on your farm. If you raise corn for roughage a silo will soon pay for itself and the rest of its days it will put money in your pocket by increasing the value of your corn crop, stopping the waste of a large part of your fodder, and fur nishing you a feed that comes nearer equaling nature's balanced ration, grass, than any other single thing that can be found in the winter. Respectfully, C. H. WINN, Bemis, S. D. P. S. — Photo of barn and silo sent under .-eparate cover. 84 FACTS ARE GOOD ENOUGH. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Your letter of Jan. 24th is at hand. In reply will say I regret that I cannot give you the complete analysis of my feeding oper- ation in facts and figures. All I can give you is the facts. This is my second winter to use an Indiana Silo. So far I have given my silage to all kinds of stock with very gratifying results. I feed it to cattle of all kinds, horses, colts, etc. This winter I am feed- ing 35 head of cattle and 4 head of horses, and have plenty of feed to put them through the feeding season, but before I had a silo, from 10 to 15 head of cattle was all I could handle during the winter, and even then I had to get lots of feed away from home every spring to feed till grass was ready as I have a small farm, less than 40 acres in cultivation. I would not think of working a farm without a silo, as the silo fully doubles the feeding value of the corn crop. Walton & Butler Believe in Having Plenty of Silage. Several of my neighbors are using Indiana Silos and all are well pleased. Some of them are feeding steers in such a manner as to give a complete mathematical analysis of their feeding operations when done. I will gather and send you this information as soon as they are done feeding. Sent you our plioto some time ago. Yours truly, JOSEPH M. WALTON. Baders, 111. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Until recently I have never been very much interested nor believed in silos, but having seen some of the results of silage feed- ing I believe I can safely say the benefits are equal to fifty per cent. W. D. WHITTINGTON, Herrick, 111. cows FALL OFF 200 POUNDS PER DAY IN PRODUCTION WHEN SILAGE IS NOT FED. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — You ask my experience in the use of one of your silos. I have had one nine years and the difference to the man who has one and the one who has not in my judgment is you can keep at least % more cows on say 12 acres of corn put into the silo than the man without one. Tlien you have the corn in shape to feed early and don't have to dig the stalks out of the snow. Then with food corn you can get as much milk in the winter as when they are on the grass, and if you have 6 to 10 feet left in the silo in the spring come mence feeding when your pasture is getting short and your cows will not shrink as they do during fly time. In the year 1907 we milked 15 cows; 5 of them were two-year- old heifers. They freshened in December, 1906, and January, 1907. We received from tlie creamery $94.00 from each cow. The corn that we put in the silo grew on 10 acres. They were fed two bushels per day in two feeds and clover hay at noon. Then we partly wintered 8 yearling bulls and 4 heifers. One week in February we fed out corn stalks the same as we put in the silo and they dropped from 600 pounds daily to 400 pounds, otherwise they were fed the same. We then fed ensilage and they went up to 600 pounds. Then they were fed on fodder left out in the field part of the winter, — at least one- tourth. I think I was the first one to put up a stave silo in this town and now almost every farmer has one. I can count 14 from my place. In regard ''o the life of a silo, mine with the exception of a couple of inches at the lower end of staves is as good as when put up and I was to blame for mine rotting where it did as I put cement uii four inches on outside of staves and the rain runs down the staves and inside of the cement and cannot dry out, so must rot, but in one-half a day I can saw off these few inches of decayed staves, let the silo down on the stone wall and it is as good as when bought. Nine years use of a silo at a cost of only four inches at the bottom of your silo. I think some of putting up another silo and if I do it will be an Indiana Silo for I have proof they will last. Yours truly, HENRY WALSH. Elmwood Stock Farm, Sheboygan Falls, Wis. MADE YELLOWER BUTTER. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Dear Sirs: — We purchased a 12x24 foot silo of your agent, Mr. Cline. We think there is no feed as good as ensilage. It is next to grass and is certainly one of the feeds for all stock. The Indiana Silo is as necessary on the farm as the granary.. Silage saves storage room and is the closest way to pack the corn crop. It clears the ground early and entirely for a fa'l crop. It saves labor of husking. Cattle young and old look as though they were on pasture. The Indiana Silo is smooth on both sides, making it one of the best. Last winter we bought bran and gluton, this winter our cows had en- silage and rough feeds. They made more, and yellower butter. We cannot recommend it too highly. Yours very truly, A. E. WENGER. Elkhart, Indiana. SHREDDED FODDER HALF WASTE. In;)iana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I am in receipt of a letter from you dated January 19th stating that you would give prizes on letters showing the actual idollaxs and cents made by using a silo. As I am no longer ut home I did not receive your letter but my brother sent it to me so I am going to write you from my own experience giving you the cost of filling and the comparison between having a silo, buying bran and having corn shredded and then getting it ground. First, it took us one week to fill our silo, which is 14x24, three men. one team, two wagons, a 6 H. P. engine, 1,500 lbs. of coal, an Appleton twelve inch cutter, two gallons of oil and one corn harvester and re- ceived $1.10 per cwt. or $3.57 per day, with a cost of 10c per day for silage with no waste. I find when drilling corn for ears you must have It not less than 10 inches apart. For the silo it can be 3 or 4 inches apart^ thus more than doubling the crop. If you shred your corn they charge on an average of 3c per bushel. It takes a good crop to yield 100 bushels per acre, at a cost of $3.00 for husking. Now if you want to feed the ears to cows they must be ground. Fifty bags at 5c per bag or $2.50 per hundred bushel. So the 100 bushel of ears cost you $5.50 before they are in a condition to feed them. It is not a balanced ration, on this same acre. You could raise about 7 or 8 ton of silage corn with a cost of filling of $35.00. Our neigh'^or bought $120.00 worth of bran, or 6 tons. He fed 16 cows and got 300 lbs. of milk per day at $1.00 per hundred. He fed 16 lbs. of feed to each cow per day or 246 lbs. to them all per day costing him 49 l-20c per day leaving him a profit of $2.49 19 20 per day. We had twelve cows, fed 40 lbs. of silage to each per day and received 325 lbs. of milk per day, about $5.00 and then have no waste while the shredded fodder is about half M'aste. So you can see the profits of a silo. Hoping I may be successful in winning a prize and wishing you success, I remain as ever, Yours truly, JOHN W. WEBB, Watertown, Wis. THIRTY-THREE ACRE FARM RETURNS $1,400 IN ONE YEAR. IxpiANA Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Your letter of recent date at hand in regard to my experience with silo feeding. This is my second season with the Indiana Silo and I am satisfied that it is the only way to get a profit out of our high priced land. I have but 33 acres but I am carrying 18 head of stock, 9 cows in milk, 6 yearlings and three horses, besides a number of hogs. Last year I fed from the silo nine months. This year I shall feed every month in the year, using green rye, clover and peas for summer silage. My sales from the farm the past year were $1,400; $474.00 of that I re- ceived for small fruit, the balance was the direct results of silo feed- ing and would not be possible under any other system. This is more than double what I have made from the place in any one year before. All stock are maintained on the farm with the exception of mill feed. The silo more than paid for itself the first year and I thank you gentlemen for persuading me to buy one of your si'os. Also for the courteous treatment I received, and wishing you the success you deserve, I remain with you for better farming. JOHN W. YATES, Burnett, Wis. DOUBLES HIS HERD. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In regard to the value of silage I will say that nobody can run a dairy and stock farm profitably at the now-a-days ruling high prices of feed stuffs. Corn, oats, bran, hay and a most any food stuff is high in price. My experience without a silo was that I needed $254.00 of meal and grain for my little herd of eight cows in 6 months, besides the corn stover and hay. After purchasing a silo I increased my herd from 8 to 16 head and fed only $148.00 worth of meal and grain in 6 months, besides hay and corn stover. TTiat would leave me a net profit on ir, cow.^ of $360.00. And then what counts still more to the Farm Buildings of L. G- Ziegler, Effingham, III. value of silage is this: The corn and other feed stuffs were lower in price as they are now-a-days. The corn I put in the silo I bought from my neighbors for $25.00 in the field with which I filled my silo, 12x24. That feeds my 16 head of cattle for 6 months and keeps them in good order a good deal better than I was ever able to do before I purchased an Indiana Silo. There is no question with me that it is profitable, not only in saving quite a snug sum every year in feed stuffs, but on the other hand by feeding good silage it increases the flow of milk a good many per cent. The money I have invested in the silo pays me 50 per cent on each dollar everv year since I purchased it in 1908. LOTTJS G. ZIEGLER, R. F. D. No. 2, Effingham, 111. SAVED THIRTY TONS OF CLOVER HAY. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen:— I wish to state that I think a silo is all right. As to the exact amount of money I saved with a silo it is hard for me to tell, but I saved at least 30 tons of clover hay this winter, which has been worth from $13.00 to $18.00 a ton. Besides I saved a good deal of ground feed which is worth from $25.00 to $35.00 a ton. G. W. WIGGERS. Muscatine, Iowa. A LARGE INCREASE IN BUTTER FAT. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — It was some time before I could make up my mind that it would pay me to put up a silo, as there was no one in the neighborhood who could give exact figures. But finally decided to try it for the fol- lowing reasons: I had but ten acres of pasture for six cows which only gave them plenty of feed for a few months in the year, causing me to feed for the balance of the year, and if I could keep off of the pasture until it got a good start I could have plenty pasture for the summer months, which I did, not turning on grass until June 1st. So in the fall of 1907 I gave my order for a silo and before the time of delivery came seven of my neighbors did the same thing. Now for results: In the year from Nov. 1st, 1907, to Nov. 1st, 1908, (I give these dates as I commenced feeding silage Nov. 1, 1908), I had 6 cows 12 months and one seven months or one cow for 77 months and one heifer, also three horses. They consumed the fodder from 10 acres of corn and 7 acres of good mixed hay, besides the green feed cut for the cows in the summer and fall months. One hundred bushels of corn and one ton of bran in the winter with the result that I sent to the creamery for the year ending Nov. 1, 1908, 21,130 pounds of milk, making 959.2 pounds of butter fat. Now for the past year to Nov. 1, 1909, I had five cows 12 months, one 8 months and one 7 months or one cow for 75 months and three heifers and the three horses. They consumed the silage in a 10x24 silo, 7 2-3 acres of corn fodder and 7 acres of good mixed hay with no other corn but what was in the silo and 1,400 pounds of cotton seed meal. I sent to the creamery this year 2.'"), 168 pounds of milk making 1,249.1 pounds of butter fat, mak- ing a difference in favor of the silo of 4,038 pounds of milk and 289.1 butter fat. I used the same quantity of milk in the family of seven and vealed the same number of calves both years. I would have felt paid if I had come out even in dollars and cents for the fine condition the cows came through the winter and extra amount of manure made. Now for expense: It cost me $10.00 in cash to fill the silo for machine and coal. For help I exchanged with my neighbors which did not take any more time than it would to take care of the corn in the old w-ay and the corn was out of the way for wheat seeding. E. D. MOORE, Jr., Pataskala, Ohio. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In reply to yours of Jan. 19th, I notice my first year's experience with a silo: I did not include the cash receipts as the price of butter and veal calves vary, but the pounds of milk and butter fat give the exact difference, but if you want the cash returns here they are, veal calf sold included: Total cash received year ending Nov. 1, '08, $269.57 Total cash received year ending Nov. 1, '09, $366.38 Yours very truly, E. D. MOORE, Jr., R. F. D. No. 4, Pataskala, Ohio. RUNS WATER INTO BLOWER. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I received a letter some time ago asking for your cus- tomers to write articles on the use of ensilage. Now, I am practically a new silo man. I put a silo up last October and my corn was rather too ripe before we could get it filled, but we ran a stream of water in the blower all the time and we have the best feed I ever saw. We are feeding 100 head of cattle and have been for two months, and I have never seen cattle do so well in my life on any kind of feed. I just simply think that my silo has paid for itself this season. I have handled cattle my entire lifetime, and I believe a silo is the best invest- ment I ever made. Everything is so content when they get their fill of ensilage that they lie down and no running around or falling like they M. C. Ohl's Angus Eating Ensilage, Madison, S. Dak. usually do this time of year. It is a comfort to take care of stock when they are content, I believe that a man ought to have a silo for every 60 head of cattle. I am sending you a photo of my silo and stock, which you wanted and you may send what you wish to pay for same. I expect to sell a lot of silos in this part of the country. I wish you could send me a man to help me a few days. I have had the promise of a man from Mr. H. C. Hargrove, but he has failed to come as agreed. Hoping to hear from you soon, I am, yours trulv, M. C. OHL, Madison, S. Dakota. 90 HAS ORDERED HIS THIRD INDIANA SILO Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In reply to yours of the 15th. I will say that I am using two of your Indiana Silos. These two silos more than paid for themselves the first year they were filled. Since I began using your silos I get just two times as much feed off of an acre of ground as I could before, and as I am in the dairy business, I have just doubled the number of cows for which I could hardly raise enough feed before I began using your silos. As silage is so much better feed than the dry feed we used to raise, that alone will pay for a silo in a very short time. I figure that my silage cost me just $1.20 per ton for raising and 'ih M fa - J '-^ i mL..^.^^ ■^ 'm'l „ G Q f— 1 ; .• "Z^-J' "v^im^ :-::f 1 -«•■. r^ I // Winter Scene on Lyman Nelson's Farm, Kanawha, la. putting into the silo. I don't see how a man can get any cheaper feed than this. This winter, I am getting just $2.00 for every $1.00 I am put- ting into my cows. I have ordered my third Indiana Silo which I will put up this sum- mer for summer feeding as I can get along with very little pasture then. Last fall my cows would leave a good clover pasture and go for their silage. I am right here to back every statement I have made in this letter to any one who may doubt them. Yours truly, LYMAN NELSON, Kanawha, Iowa. HAS BUILT A SECOND SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I will inform you what I think of the Indiana Silo. I think they are without any doubt the best on the market and so far as feeding silage I think that no man can afford to be without a silo who has forty acres of land or more. I have two Indiana Silos. I put one up two years ago and one last year and they don't owe me one do'Iar now. I used eight acres of corn last year and fed forty head of cattle and thirty head of horses without aiiy other grain. I fed about ten ton of hay and this stock is in better shape than I ever had them before. I think a Silo is the most profitable building on the farm. I can't say too much for the silo. Yours truly, ELI YODER, R. F. D. No. 3, Wellman, Iowa. 91 A TREASURE GREATER THAN A GIFT FROM THE GODS. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Soon after I got acquainted with our silo, which the An- derson people sent us five years ago or more, I found myself often say- ing that it is the greatest thing that was ever done for the farmer. That thought has never left me nor changed a particle. The man who has a silo has a wonderful treasure. When I carry the smoking hot ensilage around the rows of waiting cows these cold days I say, "Yesi, its .iust as if the fabled Gods of Greece and Rome had come to the farmer's relief and dropped this wonderful tank into his barn yard." Now fill your barns to bursting with your splendid hay and stack the over plus, then long before the winds blow and the rains, mud, and snows come, cut the King of Crops, green, juicy, rich, every inch that stands above ground and pack it down nicely chopped in that wonderful round barn. What a delicious dream has come true. How rich you are; what months of luscious feeds are piled up in the handiest place in the world. No windrows of bleached corn leaves a foot deep along the fence rows; no butts of corn stalks three feet high standing and wasting all over your corn fields and in the way of next year's crops,— all that waste of leaf and stalk is feeding the cows for weeks now and dropping in golden coin into the pocketbook day by day; no shivering men and horses hauling in the half wasted shocks in the snow and mud and rain, but all the old wastes even lying canned, now, ripe, rich and juicy almost right against the cows' mouths. An enchanting vision realized; a different world from your boyhood's; the Gods have been at work on man's behalf; a hundred tons of rich September canned for hungry February's needs, which used to be all but wasted; nearly a liundred tons of hay saved to the mows or for the hungry spring buyers. A hundred tons very much like bank account so that a man who has a silo is a king. This is what the ages waited for but died without. Hurrah! We have it on our farm. Now imagine that the grippe has prostrated all hands and mows are empty, no one can haul in the stacks of hay. Why there stands the greatest thing on the farm with its row of doors right against your feed room. Draw on your silo. Now watch the greedy friends who used to have a big corn field ready and chose to bleed you about one hundred and ninety dollars for your herd's needs from January to May. How sick they get now-a-days when you tell them our silo has long since stopped that foolishness forever. Yes, the silo is it, and the silo farmer is a happy man and you can't have our silo for a thousand dollar bill. c. H. McMillan & sons, N. Vernon, Ind. PREFERS ALL WOOD DOOR FRAME. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In reply to your letter I received a few days ago regarding the silo which I bought of your agent two years ago will say 1 like it just fine. I think it was the best investment I have made for some time. Your all wood frame for doors I believe is better than the steel. The acid from silage will rust the steel I believe where it will preserve the wood. Silage is a great deal cheaper than hay at $1.5.00 per ton. I think T saved the price of my silo this winter. My neighbors thought I was crazy for paying so much for a silo but they have come to the conclusion that thev are alright. Yours respectfully, ■ JOHN W. MATHES, Bondurant, Iowa. SILOS AND THEIR PROFITS. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Silos have been in use in Europe and America many years, but did not come into general use in this locality until about ten years ago. Few farmers at that time knew what a silo was or what silage was used for. It was about this time that I with a few other neigh'jor farmers was attracted by the Indiana Silo, and was induced to buy one, and accordingly the first carload was shipped to our county. I erected it that fall on a circular concrete foundation near the barn, (should have been in the barn). It took four men about a day to put it up and put the hoops on and then we were ready to fill it. Using an ordinary Ohio cutting box, with blower, I use my own cutter and engine, and it never has cost me over 50 or 60 cents per ton to fill. I can grow the corn and put it in the silo for that. Now it is to the men who do not have silos that I wish to talk, — they think they cannot afford the expense, when it is in fact, laying down one dollar and picking up two almost immediately, for the full O. A. Morris &. Sons and Some of Their Dairy Cows. cost of building the silo will be returned promptly the first winter, and again each succeeding winter. It is no longer an experiment, but a solid and settled fact from the actual experience of thousands of prac- tical dairymen and cattle feeders, that the use of the silo is both economy and convenience, and I cannot see why so many farmers hesi- tate to build them. Sell a cow or two or a steer if there is no other way to obtain the means. It was not until the silo came into use in this neighborhood that the feeding of cattle was made profitable, while now I know a number of farmers who do not like dairying, feed a bunch or two of cattle each winter at a good profit, each feeder giving the credit to the use of silage, it being succulent. It is next to nature's food (grass), it is an appetizer and a conditioner. Now there is no reason why the average farmer of the Middle West cannot, or ought not to have a silo on his farm, whether he is in the dairy business or raising steers and sheep, in fact, it is good for any animal on the farm and it will thrive much better for having it than any other feed you can give it. Of material for construction of silos we have brick, cement and wood. Of the three materials, wood is the best for the reason it is air tight and that is the secret of success in the use of the silo. A good silo built as the Indiana Silo is built will last a lifetime if put under shelter and hold as much feed as a large barn. Here is the sum and substance of the profits derived from the use of thi:- Indiana Silo: 1. It produces fat more cheaply than does dry food. 2. Ensilage keeps young stock thrifty and growing all winter. 3. Ensilage is more conveniently handled than dry fodder. 4. It enables dairy cows to produce milk and butter more eco- nomically. 5. It makes steer feeding profitable where corn is high priced. 6. There are no aggravating corn stalks in the manure when silage is fed. 7. It is the most economical method of supplying food that is succulent (next to grass) for the stock during the winter. In conclusion allow me to say that it behooves every farmer to look into the silo question and study it intelligently and you will agree with me that it is one of the most necessary adjuncts on the farm. O.A.MORRIS, Salem, Ind. GOOD FOR MAN AND BEAST. Inpiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Your letter received and to the contest I would say that our silo was a great comfort to us as well as to our herd. We think it is one of the greatest flesh, as well as milk producers. Our cows did better while the silo feed lasted. The only trouble with us was there was not enough of the feed to last all through the season. In the first place we did not get our silo up in time and the frost bit the corn, but all the feed was just the best. We are very well satisfied and would recommend the silo business to any farmer who wants to feed good feed to make his stock get fat and look nice. Hoping this may meet with your approval, I am, yours truly, MRS. G. M. WILSON. R F. D. No. 9, Springfield, Ohio. FAT HEIFER PREFERS ENSILAGE TO CORN. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — After using my silo I bought of you last fall I am glad your agent insisted on me buying one. I find it a great saving in feed. I fed twelve head of cattle and will have feed until the last of May. I have a 12x24 silo. I fattened a two-year-old heifer on ensilage this winter. I broke up corn and put in the ensilage and she would eat the ensilage and leave the corn. My neighbor helped me butcher her. He said she was the fattest animal he ever saw. She was fed on silo feed and timothy hay. I realize I saved $92.00 and have feed in the barn nice and warm. Yours respectfully, WM. E. WOOLARD, R. F. D, No. 6, Newark, Ohio. WORTH MORE THAN 115 ACRE FARM. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Three years ago I purchased a 150-ton silo Jrom you. Up to that time my farm of 115 acres maintained fifteen head of cattle and two head of horses. Since building the silo I have been able by its use to keep forty- five head of cattle on my farm the year round and two horses no more ground, no more feed raised, but the corn goes three times Jarther by means of a silo, because all of the stock, from close to the ground, all of the blades, husk and cob as well as the grain is saved and used, nothing at all wasted, all eat up by the cattle. Everything in the stock line on the farm eats it, the chickens, hogs, the boys' Billy Goat, horses, cattle, cows and calves, — I have even seen the dog eating at the ensilage Thus, the silo together with the gas engine and ensilage cutter, which cost me near $600.00 is worth more in earning power by the way One of P. D. Morris' Money Makers. of profits than my farm which cost me without these improvements, $5,000.00, because the silo together with engine and ensilage cutter, enables me to keep 45 head of cattle and two horses instead of 15 head and two horses. The fact outlined will be verified by me and in addition can fur- nish several of my neighbors who will do the same. My wife was op- posed to me building the silo but you could not trade her another farm like the one I have for the silo, engine and ensilage cutter, should you bind her to do without the silo, and I feel the same way myself. 95 You can put this together as you see best if the same will be of any service. I herewith enclose you the interior view of the stable. I have a picture of all buildings and silo together with stock and self, but I do not think it would suit as well as some pictures I have seen. Yours truly, P. D. MORRIS, Jersey Heights Dairy, New Martinsville, W. Va. SHEEP EAT IT GREEDILY. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. The eagerness with which farmers will take up with some "Gold Brick" or "Something for Nothing" scheme, and the indifference shown toward a high class proposition is surprising. For instance, the "silo," so seldom seen, in fact is in most sections conspicuous by its absence. A few years ago after considering the question at some length, and becoming convinced that I could no longer get along without a silo I took the matter of purchasing up with several companies and soon be- came convinced that the Indiana was far and away a'jove its competi- tors, a supremacy it yet maintains. The first fall the silo was filled from a field of corn that, owing to adverse conditions in planting time and throughout the season, was very small and late, wou'd not have reached maturity. There were 15 acres that would have husked about 300 bushels of corn at 35c per bushe', which would equal $105.00 estimated. The same when ensiloed made about 100 tons very good ensilage at $2.50 would equal $250.00. It cost $50 to harvest and run in silo. The expense to harvest, i. e., cut and husk, either by hand or with husker, is practically the same as to run into silo, with the advantage in favor of the silo, as the days are longer, ground in better condition, etc. Counting 350 shocks of fodder at 10c, twice their value in this case, and we have $105.00 corn, and $35.00 fodder, making $140.00 against $250.00. value of ensilage, not counting its added value of one-third in the better and more thrifty condition of stock, convenience of feed and the practical elimination of waste. Again, if we secure two tons of hay to the acre we are pretty well pleased, while with the silo it is no uncommon thing to secure 12 to 15 tons of better feed and stored in much smaller space. Land $100 to $200 an acre, and being satisfied with two tons of feed when we had ,iu.=;t as well have 12 tons. One acre of hay will winter two steers. One acre of corn silage will winter four steers, and much better. Whether in the case of steers or the dairy often a loss without ensilage is turned into a nice profit with ensilage, and we find that of all our stock the sheep are the most greedy and the saving of feed and the thrift of the flock likewise striking. A user of ensilage needs to be careful of his statement or he is likely to be discredited. Some two years ago the president of the Indiana Silo Company called on an old schoolmate of the writer and told such wonderful stories concerning the silo that my friend turned him down. A few days afterward I came in contact with this friend and he asked me concerning ensilage. I told of my experience and ai the two accounts, as it were, tallied in-etty closely, my friend bought an Indiana Silo and is an enthusiastic advocate of their use. It is possible with thin cattle to effect a daily gain of five pounds per head with good ensilage spjt'inkled with mill feed. This has actually been done on a 90-day feed to the writer's knowledge. Doubting Thom- ases fall in line. (UNSIGNED). LONG LIVE THE INDIANA SILO COMPANY. Indiana Silo Cq., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen:— Yours oi: 1, 28, 1910, has been received and contents noted. In reply I will try to give you a few facts and figures as to what my silo has done for me in saving and utilizing feed. First I will give you the cost of filling my 60 ton silo which holds 6 to 10 acres of corn. I have filled it with 6 acres and I have taken as high as 10, averaging 8 acres. First I will give you a statement of the actual cost of filling as follows: I am now estimating our average crop at 40 bushels per acre counting 18 shocks of 14 hill corn to the acre: Engine and cutter, 20c per ton $12 00 18 hands, % day at rate of $1.50 per day 20 23 4 teams, % day at rate of $1.50 per day 6 00 Board of 18 hands, each 2 meals at 16 2 3c a meal. ... 6 00 Total for filling $14 25 I will now give you a statement as to the cost of handling this 8 acre crop as we formerly did: Cutting 144 shocks at 8c per shock U 52 Husking 2%c per bu., 10c per shock, 144 shocks.... 14 40 Hauling and cribbing corn, 90c per acre 7 20 Hauling fodder, $1.50 per acre, 8 acres 12 00 Total cost of handling $45 12 I will now try to give you my experience in feeding silage in com- parison with the old method. First I can increase the number of my cattle 40 per cent, from 5 to 7, and bring them out in the spring in better condition than I could the lesser number on the same feed used under the old method of feeding. I find my cows give much larger quantities of milk when fed silage than the old system and make butter of fine flavor and first class quality. I also feed my horses, brood sows and chickens silage. It has a laxative influence and keeps them in fine condU/on. Brood sows will suckle more liberally. Chickens will lay more eggs (which is quite an item now). Another important item with me isr the great advantage of having your feed converted into available manure of fine quality, at once ready to haul to the field and receive the benefit of it for the spring crop. I consider this a big feather in the silage cap. Another item of money saving is in utilizing the whole stalk, which is a bulky feed and stock will not eat near so much hay or fodder as if fed under the old system. I have almost enough hay every winter to pay for my silo over and above what we formerly did before we used the stalk. Another great advantage in preparing your corn in the form of silage is that you can get your crop off the ground in time for seeding wheat. Still another, your field is clear of the troublesome shocks to work around. Our ground is all disked and drilled evenly all over the same, no lapping of seed, no spots which are not seeded left for weeds to grow. Another important and money saving item is in the destruction of the wheat and grass crop by driving over it in hauling the corn and fodder off. I consider the damage at a low estimate to be two bushels of wheat per acre. In addition to that the exposure of man and team through rain, hail, snow and cold wind digging the fodder loose the damage is incalcula'ile. I guess I have gone beyond the limit. It may go, let the results be what they will. I am not near done telling the advantages of a silo. 97 1 look back with fond recollections when James L. Hill and my son called at my home and sold me a silo. When I was in my 76th year I fed 25 cattle, four horses and a small bunch of hogs. TTie convenience of a silo enabled me to do it all myself. Long live the Indiana Silo. Yours truly, JOHN A. McClelland, Laurelville, Ohio. WOULDN'T TAKE $1,000 FOR IT AND DO WITHOUT. India.na Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. I built an Indiano Silo in September, 1909, put in six acres of corn which I value at $30.00 an acre amounting to $180.00. The cost of filling amounted to $25.00 and I fed 8 ton of hay amounting to $56.00. That fed 19 head of cows from November 1st till May 1st. Half of these cows were giving milk and the cream in six months amounted to $570.00, calves $25.00, whole amount $595.00. The expense of filling and value of corn and hay was $261.00, leaving me a net profit of $334.00. Some of these cows which are dry, having been milked all John A. Miller's Barn and Silo, Iowa City, !a. winter and are now fat for butchering, have been offered 4%c for them. If I did not have a silo I would have fed 20 ton of hay, 300 bushels of corn and four tons of bran, amounting to $460.00, leaving me a net profit of $199.00. Making that corn worth $63.00 an acre by the use of a silo. The profit of the use of a silo pays for it in one year. I would not take $1,000.00 for my silo and sign a contract not to build another one or to feed from another one. Therefore. I believe a farmer cannot invest his money to more profit than to build an In- diana Silo. Hoping there will be many Indiana Silos built this year, I am, Yours truly, JOHN A. MILLER, Iowa Citv, Iowa. MAGRUDER BROS. GIVE FIGURES. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In giving you the result of our first year's experience in using the 14x30 Fir stave silo we bought of you last year will say this silo was erected by our farm force, assisted in part by a carpenter 70 years of age. Everything v.'ent together nicely. We filled the silo with yellow corn, well dented, the last week in August, the ensilage keeping well and was fed as follows, except about 20 tons still on hand, and as it did not seem practical to buy cattle to use this feed we covered it with wet straw well packed and will carry it to next season. 1909, Oct. 22, bought 27 cattle, 23,310 lbs. at $4.10..$ 955 71 Nov. 8, bought 15 cattle, 13,925 lbs. at $4.15 577 88 $1,655 39 27 cattle on grass 30 days at .03 per head per day. . . .$ 24 30 15 cattle on grass 15 days at .03 per head per day. . 6 75 180 shocks cut fodder at 10c (no demand for it) ... . 18 00 3 tons hay (second growth orchard grass) 18 00 82 bu. cob meal (corn cost 55c delivered) 49 20 5,400 lbs. cotton seed meal at $32.00 ,cost delivered. . 86 40 65 tons corn ensilage at $3.00 195 00 $ 397 65 Com. driving snd lottage on 42 cattle 43 40 Feed at Stock Yards 27 80 $ 71 20 $2,024 24 Feb. 5, 1910, sold 21 cattle, 22,300 lbs at 5%c $1,170 75 Feb. 19, 1910, sold 21 cattle, 19,860 lbs. at 5%c 1,042 65 $2,213 40 2,042 24 Balance $ 189 16 100 loads of manure in barn at $1.00 per load 100 00 Total balance $ 289 16 Ensilage made of com yielding 45 bu. per acre or nine tons ensilage. It was our aim to make feeders of the cattle, not butchers. Yours very truly, MAGRUDER BROS. Goshen, Ky. BELIEVES SILO WORTH 40 ACRES OF LAND. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I put up one of your 12x24 Yellow Pine Silos in the fall of 1907. We commenced to feed silage December 6th and fed 8 two-year-old steers and 24 head of cows and young cattle till the first of May with only silage, oat straw and fodder and then fed the 8 steers silage on clover pa.5ture till the 10th of July and sold them for 5%c per pound. They averaged 1,433 and made us a good profit. Last year owing to the drouth our corn did not go in in as good condition and we did not get as good results but we wintered 30 head of cattle and got them out on pasture in good shape and we hope to do better this year. Will say that in our experience we consider a good silo equal to 40 acres of land added to any well regulated farm. Yours very truly, A. A. YOUNG. Darlington, Indiana. SAVES $100 A MONTH. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I purchased from you last fall an Indiana Silo, 20x36, and filled it with corn and Soy Beans. This makes splendid feed for all kinds of stock. I have been feeding silage to from 75 to 100 head of cattle since December 3, 1910. The silo has saved me $100.00 per month, so it will Mr. Merry's Barn and Silo. mcIji not owe me anything when it is time to turn the stock out. I shall have another silo after a little and it will be an Indiana Silo. I enclose you a photo of my barn and silo, also one of 20 two-year- olds which are just freshening now. Yours respectfuly, M. W. MERRY. Hebron, 111. MAY BUILD TWO MORE SILOS. INDIANA Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I have been feeding cattle for over thirty years. I mostly ted them on corn and hay alone. Of recent years I have been feeding cotton seed meal or cake along with the corn with better suc- cess, but last year I put up one of your silos, 18x36, as an experiment. I fed my cattle on ensilage alone for a while until I got them fully used to it. i then weighed them and fed them on 1-.5 of a bushel of corn a day along with the ensilage for thirty-three days and weighed them again and found that they had gained 94 lbs. per steer, a trifle less than three pounds per day. I fed my calves on ensilage alone and they are fat, so fat that I am almost persuaded to market them, although I did not intend to do so as I wanted to keep them over as I always have done. I am thinking of putting up two more silos this year as I am more than pleased with my experiment. I have never fed cattle with as little cost and as great gain in all my experience. Yours truly, GEO. W. WITT, Kane, Illinois. UNCLE DAN'S OPINION. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I have made my calculation on feeding silage in dol- lars and cents, outside of the fodder and hay that I fed in connection with silage, which would amount to $20.00. This amount I credited to 25 pigs that follow the cattle. This statement is the feed value of a silo to me. 80 ton silo. 8 acres corn, 12 tons per acre, 96 tons. $20.00 per acre, $160.00. 6% acres fill silo. 1% refills after setting three days. $2.00 cost of silage per ton. Silo feed to calves, average weight of calves 300 to 3.50 pounds, average cost of calves $12.00. Number of calves to consume 80 tons silage in 200 days at 20 pounds per day to calf, it would take 40 calves, at a cost of 2 cents a day to consume the 80 tons of silage in 200 days, at a cost of 60 cents per month and make an average of 500 pounds, the selling price $25.00 a head. Cost of calves $ 480 00 Cost of silo 160 00 Total cost $ 640 00 Selling price of calves, 40 head, $25.00 $1,000 00 Total cost 640 00 8 acres of corn net $ .360 00 DAN LOCK. Kokomo, Ind. SAW THE LIGHT AFTER TWELVE YEARS. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I want to write to you about the silo I got last year from the Indiana Silo Company. I am well pleased with the silo. I only feel sorry that I didn't get a silo ten or twelve years ago. I would have made more money out of my milch cows because it saves so much more other feed and they give so much more milk by feeding silage than they do by feeding other feed. There is no better investment made than to put up a silo on a farm. Even if I had only 3 or 4 cows I would put up a silo. Yours respectfully, H. L. MEYER, Watseka, 111. BETTER THAN GROUND FEED. Gentlemen: — Replying to yours of the 3rd inst., will say that we commenced feeding from our Indiana Silo built last fall on Jan 1st. Have fed 18 cows on silage and a little clover hay. Have, also, fed some to the horses and young stock. We have a feed mill, but have not ground any grain this winter. Our cows have done rather better than other winters when we fed them liberally on ground feed. We consequently feel more than satisfied with our investment in the silo. Yours truly, G. P. MERTEN & SON. Garner City, Pa. cows INCREASE ONE-HALF. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. O. D. Mourer's Barn and Silo, Greenville, Pa. Gentlemen: — I am today sending vou a picture of my barn and silo which I received of you in 1907. The same went together in good shape and I must say that it is the best money maker I have on the farm. The silo is 14x24 feet and will run ten to twelve cows. My cows are in better shape than when I had no silo. Will say that it will pay any man who has only a few cows to put up an Indiana silo. My cows make one-half more since I have a silo than they did before. Yours respectfully, O. D. MOURER, Greenville, Pa. DON'T HAVE TO WORK IN RAIN. Indiana. Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — After two years experience of using the Indiana Silo and after studying on improvements of it the same length of time found this impossible cause. It is and must be successful. It is hard to give exact figures to show the profits by the use of a silo because it is not only the waste of feed you are saving but it also means saving work, especially in mean and rough weather to haul in the feed, and another thing, all your stock-feed, bran, etc., is all unnecessary by the use of a silo, so each one can about judge himself what he would save by using one. Everybody can do without one the way I did but no longer after he has had one. After the first one would be ruined for him by a fire in two weeks if possible he would have the second one on the road. I am very well pleased with mine and so is everybody else who has one I am safe to say. I close, respecting you. HENRY MONKE, Mt. Olive, 111. TEXAS HEARD FROM. Indiana Silo (Jo., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemtn: — In regaid to the value of a silo, the valuation has never been told and the reason is this. You have green feed as good as the best grass, and any time of the year you want it, and when the grass is good and plentiful let your ensilage stand until the grass is gone and you can go back to the silo and it is as good as ever. The Taft Dairy has been running for about three years and since the use of a silo the profits have been large, but before, it no more than paid expenses. I will try and send vou a photo of mv barn, silo and dairy herd. Yours truly, H. H. MILLER, Mcr. The Taft Dairy, Taft, Texas. 103 DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD DO FOR STEERS BUT MADE $2,783.00 IN SPITE OF IT. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I have* made cattle feeding a business for fourteen years but never until the past winter used a silo. I thought ensilage would do for dairy cattle but not for fattening cattle until your Mr. Foster of Carmel, Ind., a personal friend, convinced me I was wrong, I now wish to give you a few figures. Oct, 13, 1909, I bought 73 head of cattle in Kansas City, averaging 1,062 lbs., at $5.10 per cwt., at a cost of $3,98.5.9.5. They were turned on grass 18 days, then fed corn and fodder 38 days. They ate 30 lbs. of corn ppiece each day and gained IVo lbs. per day. Dec. 8th I began to feed 30 lbs. of ensilage per head, with 9 lbs. of ground corn, and 4 lbs. of clover ha> . This we continued 114 days and 2 lbs. per day was the gain. After the ensilage was all gone they only gained 1 lb. per day on 30 lbs. of corn with 11 lbs. of hay. I saved 1,800 bu. of corn by using ensilage. These cattle were shipped to the Chicago market on April 27, 1910. They averaged 1,360 lbs. and brought $8.10, or $8,041.68. After count- ing a fair market price for all the feed these cattle and the hogs which ran with them have eaten, I have a net profit of $2,783.00. To say I am well pleased with the result is putting it lightly. I will put up another Indiana Silo this year. Yours truly, U. G. MICHENER, Noblesville, Ind. SAVES FROZEN CORN. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gent;emen: — Two years ago last fall we purchased a silo of your company. The first fall we filled it with corn that was hurt some by frost and we found it was a little too sreen. When we got about four or five feet of the bottom it seemed to be too sour. The cows did not like it so well. The next fall we filled it when the corn was just right. The cows relished it much better. We have a half Jersey cow that has given 48 to 52 pounds of milk a day. She was fresh .January 8, 1909, and had milk fever. We sent, for a veterinarian. Dr. P. Miller of Fort Recovery, Ohio. He said when he got here that he wondered what would cause milk fever that time of year, but when he got in sight of our farm he saw the silo and then he knew what caused it. He said not to feed a cow ensilage for about ten days before freshening, when they give much milk, for ensilage made milk about the same as good pasture. She was fresh again this winter and she got along alright. This fall my last planting of corn was late and it was killed by frost, but we let it stand until it got dry enough to put in the silo. It made as good ensilage as we had last year. We give our cows all the ensilage they will eat up clean. I don't know how we could get along without a silo especially for our milk cows. We feed our horses silage, too, two brood mares and our young horses and they seem to do well on it. I think it gives them an appetite. We have never kept an account of the profits off of our cows, but last year our cows averaged us a little over $81.00 apiece. They are just grade Jerseys. Our cream goes to the creamery. We have not much to say but what we sav is the truth. Yours truly, D. F. MILLER, New Weston, Ohio. DOESN'T NEED BUTTER COLOR. Indiana Silo Co., Andeeson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I bought a silo i'rom the Indiana Silo Company in the year of 1907. It is 14x24, the only place I could buy the staves that long in one piece. The Company furnished me good material and filled their contract satisfactorily in every way. I filled the silo the same fall and fed the ensilage that winter and was surprised at the results in several ways. First, the cattle ate it up clean, which is not the case with dry corr fodder. I shred my fodder and the .stock leave a third of it, while the same kind of corn put in the silo in a green state is eaten up clean and I get at the lowest estimate one-third more milk from the same amount of corn fodder fed in the old way. Second, it is succulent feed, equal to grass or any food in a green state and you have this green food at your command in the winter months when it is impossible to obtain such food. Third, my butter in the winter is that yellow color, such as we get when stock is turned on grass in the spring. I never use butter color. Fourth, I can feed so many more head of stock from fewer acres of land. Another advantage of silo filling with green corn is I have longer days and warmer weather and can get hands to fill the silo before the corn is ripe enough to cut up and then the corn is removed and the land is ready to plow much earlier than the old way of handling the crop. I have been using the Indiana Silo for three years and would not winter stock again without one. I kept an account of what my cows made during the winter of 1909 and found the eight cows averaged fifty pounds of butter a week and I only fed 500 pounds of bran with the ensilage. Before I used the silo the eight cows did not average twenty pounds of butter a week during the winter months. My advice to farmers keeping stock is to build a silo for the winter of 1910 and if they want the staves in one piece order from the Indiana Silo Company. S. M. ZINK, Christiansburg, Va. SILO MADE FARM EARN $64.90 PER ACRE. Indiana Silo Co.. Anderson. Ind Gentlemen: — In answer to yours of the 14th will say I think the Indiana Silo which I have filled now for the third season in succession cannot be beat. The winner of 1908 and 1909, getting $1.70 per hundred for my milk, I realized $64.98 per acre for my corn, besides the milk and butter I used for my family of six. I am beating that quite a bit this winter but cannot tell in exact figures until the silo is empty. The silo opens up fine with only a little waste on top. My cattle come through in good condition. I can keep more cattle on the same number of acres as there is no waste in the silage. The cows relish it and eat it up clean. I feed clover hay for roughage and a little oil meal. I do not envy the neighbors their job of digging fodder from under the snow. It is worth money to have our feed handy and ready to feed and will say your silo is a good silo both in material and workmanship, and only the best is good enough for the dairyman and farmer. Wishing you success, I remain. Yours truly, L. LEACH, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. 105 DO INDIANA SILOS PAY. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I will give ray last year's results of dry corn fodder and my first 100 tons of Indiana silage. The winter of 'OS-'OO the average nuraber of gallons of milk raised from 25 milking cows was 00 1/2 gallons per day. Ration, dry fodder, hay, brewery grains, 250 lbs. of No. 1 white middlings. In '09-'10 the aver- age for milk to April 1st, is 6GV2 gallons from 25 cows. Ration, Indiana Silage, hay, brewery grains, 200 lbs. of No. 1 white middlings. Results: Better milk, more of it, and better looking herd. Six gallons of milk profit, at 21c $ 1 26 Fifty pounds middlings profit, at $34.00 85 Profits each day from Nov. 1 , '09 1 2 11 Nov. 1, '09 to April 1, "10— If.O days— amounts to $316 50 April is yet to tohow, 3o days 63 30 Gain of "Og-'IO over '08-'09 $379 80 Cost of silo, concrete bottom and roof $300 00 Gain first year $79.80, one Cypress silo used one year. Why do I use an Indiana Silo? Because it keeps silage perfectly with its air tight self draining mortised joints, and continuous wood door frame and ladder combined, there is nothing to rot. That is why I bought an Indiana. The Indiana Silo was, also, the cheapest of six other makes wt considered. Isn't that what the stockraiser, dairyman is looking for. What does it cost to fill a silo? Not a cent more than dry curing fodder. We hired an outfit blower and engine, had 7V2 acres of corn out, sowed one bushel and peck to the acre, cut it with hand. It took four men two days, had three teams, two of our own, two men in field, one at machine, two in silo. So it takes four men the two days you are cutting and seven men when filling. T. MENZIES, Irwin, Pa. SILO PAYS 64 PER CENT NET ON INVESTMENT. I.NDIANA SiLO Co., ANDERSON, InD. Gentlemen: — I bought an Indiana Si o in the summer of 1908, a 12x30, and cost me complete, foundation and roof, $210.00. I filled it with 5Mj acres of corn, and with the addition of 10 acres of corn fodder worth $4.50 per acre or $45.00, and 3 tons of bran worth $26.00 per ton, or $78.00, I fed eight head of cows and twelve head of young cattle, from the 15th of October to the 15th of March, and have enough ensilage to last to the first of June. I have sold $150 worth of cream per day from the cows, or $225.00 worth, and my young cattle have gained $15.00 per head, or $180.00, which makes a total income of $405.00 for five months. Deducting the cost of bran and fodder from $405.00— $123.00— $282.00. for 2-3 of the feed put in the silo, or an entire feeding value of $423.00, or $77.00 per acre for corn used in filling. The corn used would have made 75 bushels per acre, worth 52c per bu., or $39.00 per acre, and fodder worth $4.50 per acre, makes $43.50 per acre, or $239.25 for the SVo acres, which leaves a balance in favor of the silo of $183.75, or 87 per cent on the investment. But the feeding value of the corn moy be 20 per cent more than the market value, so we will give it that, or $287.10. Still the silo paid 64 per cent on the investment. WM. W. LEMERT, Napoleon, Ohio. MANURE SPREADER RUNS NEARLY ALL THE TIME. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — We have been feeding ensilage for four years. We are highly pleased with the feed. We can't praise the silo we bought of you too highly. We don't see how we got along before we got the silo of you. We wouldn't have the silo taken out of the barn and bind us to not put up another silo for five times what it cost. We have been feeding twenty-five head of cattle and colts seven months every year since we got the silo. We keep the manure spreader running nearly all the time. Now our silo is in the barn in the middle bent. The barn is ninety feet long, seven bents, three drive ways crossways of barn. We want another silo to keep more stock, to buy more land, to keep more stock, to make more manure, to raise more corn, to feed more stock, to make more monej', to buy more land, to raise more corn, to feed more stock, to make more manure. I can't send you a picture now. Will send one as soon as I can. Yours respectfully, EDWARD McPHEETERS. Fredericksburg, Ind. PUTS IN POOR CORN. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, L\d. Gentlemen: — Yours of the 19th received and contents noted. In reply will say that 1 put up an Indiana Sio last fall. It is 16x20 feet and rated at 80 tons. We filled it within six inches of the top, putting in 14 acres, or 322 shocks of corn. The corn was very poor, owing to the dry weather and judging it from the rest of the field which we husked the silo contained 450 bushels. Counting this at 60c per bushel makes $270.00 worth of corn. The fodder would have been dear at 4c a sliock but at that it was worth $12.88. Thus, the silo contained $282.88 worth of corn. On November Slh we opened it finding the silage had only spoiled about six inches on the top. We began feeding twelve head of cattle that averaged 861 pounds a head. They were fed all they would eat of the ensilage together with a little clover hay and about 20 shocks of little corn until the 5th of February when they weighed 1,065 pounds a head, a gain of a little more than 2 lbs. a day. These cattle had no shelter except the straw stack and wind brake. They were never under a roof while we had them and last winter was the coldest for years. After they were sold we still had a door and a half of silage left, so on February 21st we bought 8 yearlings that averaged 675 lbs. We will have enough feed to run them till grass comes. In addition to this we have fed three milch cows, three fall calves and 40 ewes this winter besides giving a little to the horses, hogs and chickens. In regard to actual profits in dollars and cents so much depends on prices that I can hardly say what our profits were. We sold dur- ing the drop in prices owing to the boycott. If we had kept the cattle 30 days longer I could have sold them for $6.00 per cwt. They cost $4.75. Then at a gain of 2 lbs. per day they would have sold for $400.85 more than they cost. Remember the silo only contained $282.88 worth of corn to start with. Is it necessary to say any more? I could write a volume on the benefits derived from the silo but lack of space forbids. Yours truly, PAUL MONSER, Harpster. o A CLEAR GAIN OF $150 A YEAR. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In accordance with your letter received, a silo is worth a good many dollars. The best investment a farmer can make is by buying an Indiana Silo. It should be one of the first buildings a farmer puts up. Then the farmer can keep more stock. When I did not have a silo I had six head of cattle. I have now twelve head and next year will have four more. As near as I can figure every foot in depth of my silage is worth at any rate $10.00. The more stock you have the more money you take in and the only way to farm is to have an Indiana Silo. Last summer as it was so dry my pasture was short. I had silage left and was glad I had it for that kept up the flow of milk. If I had not had it I would have been $100.00 out. Ever since I got my silo I gain every year. I would not farm without a silo. I can't see into it how some farmers get along without one. I can't. Woukl not sell mine. As I got my silo three years ago and could keep more stock I made a clear gain of $1.50.00 a year. Yours truly, HENRY BUNZOW, Two Rivers, Wis. SILO IN IOWA SAVED NEARLY TWICE ITS COST IN ONE YEAR. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I figure my silage cost me $2.50 per ton put in the silo. Twenty dollars per acre for corn in the field and $40. On for labor put- ting it in the silo. It took 13 acres to fill my 120-ton silo, making the total cost $300.00, and I fed 44 head. Started in to feed silage the 10th day of November and have enough to feed until the middle of May. These cattle consist of IS milch cows, one bull, 7 two-year old heifers and 18 fall calve^;. We fed the cows and hull 40 pounds per head a day at l^/ic a pound equals Tk- per head. The seven heifers 34 Tjs at l^c equals 3%c per head. The IS calves, 80 lbs at l%c, equals 10c for the 18 head. In addition to the cow feed we fed them one pound cotton seed meal. The meal cost per day for cows was 2i,2C a pound, or 45c a day for the 18. We didn't feed any hay but kept a rack of straw in the yard for them to run to when we let them out, so you see by the above figures it cost me 4%c per head a day. On the average my cows have done fine on milk all winter and the calves will do for veal. In fact, the farmers think that they suck the cows. I would recommend a silo to all men. My silo has paid big returns on the investment. These figures represent what my silo cost me. The silo completed, foundation and roof, $300.00. I broke up 15 acres of hay ground for corn and would have had to cutand shock 25 acres of corn for dry feed, making a total of forty acres. ' Now then it only took 13 acres to fill the silo, so I saved 27 acres of corn that meant 40 bushels to the acre which equals 1,080 bushels at 50c per bushel, making $540.00. By tak- ing the cost of my silos away from it I have $240.00 to the good. Isn't that enough in favor of the silo, and I doubt if the 15 acres of hay and 25 cut dry fodder would have fed my herd of cattle, so you see it cost me about 5c a head per dav including straw. H. O. CHASE, Thornton, Iowa. 108 ROUND SILO AS COMPARED TO SQUARE. India>"a Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In the summer of 1895 we built in our barn a square silo that we used until two years ago, when we bought a 14x24 foot Indiana Silo of Yellow Pine. Will say that the using of that antiquated square silo, with its anfavorable losses, proved profitable to us, but vastly more profitable do we find using our Indiana Silo without any loss. Our 1895 silo was the first one ever seen here at that time and our neighbors coming to see the ensilage would say: "Well, sauerkraut is alright enough at times but not for every meal," and thought stock, too, wou'd get awful tired eating this kind of 'sauerkraut,' as they called the ensilage, but soon had cause to change their minds after seeing how our stock thrived on it, and that we were not so much out of our minds after all. Now, right here, let us with emphasis say, that in our opinion from experience, no farmer, especially with a very small farm, should be without a silo and the Indiana Silo at that. A farmer without a silo cannot carry much stock or feed at a profit. A two hundred dol- lar barn with a silo is as great or better than a six hundred dollar barn with no silo attached, in our opinion. The silo barn is not crowded with fodder and corn, has more room for stock. Can always feed in barn every day, regardless of weather. Summit Farm, Crouch & Pumphrey, Bethel, Ohio. This year we opened our silo about the 10th of November last and found the ensilage fine and now are feeding 35 head of steers, 6 head of cattle (4 horses and a span of large mules), 50 large sheep, on ensilage and have 13 hogs running among the cattle doing well. We expect to place all this stock in the market by the middle of April fat and at a good margin in our favor. As you see, we are not confining ourselves to any one specialty in feeding, but promiscuous stock feeding with very satisfactory results. The silo we bought of you is proving first class in every respect as to material and workmanship. Enclosed you will find a photo of some of the barn yard at our farm. We will say our rough feed consists of fodder and shredded fodder. Yours respectfully, CROUCH & PUMPHREY, Summit Farm, Bethel. Ohio. MANGERS ALWAYS CLEAN AFTER FEEDING SILAGE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Yours at hand. I have been using one of your silos for three years. Would say that I would not be without one if I would want to keep and raise stock. As I am a dairyman my cows give a good flow of milk even at zero temperature. As the silage is a succulent food the cows relish it and will eat a good bit of hay or other dry feed which they would not do if it was not for the silage and the more a dairy cow eats the better she will do at the milk pail and the better she fills the pail the better she fills the dairyman's pocketbook. I bought a silo of your company in 1907. I have found it very economical feed the first winter I used the silage. The summer of 1908 was very dry and the months of August, September and October were so dry that we did not get any fall pasture. I had a good supply of hay but no pasture in the fall. I had to feed some hay early in order to keep the cows in milk. I waited for rain and the rain did not come, but the silo man came along about the first of September and stopped at my farm and wanted to sell me a silo. I told him I had one and did not want another. He said it was always easier for him to sell a silo to a man that had one than to a man that had none. The Silo Paid for Itself the First Winter. 1 ordered the second silo from that man. 1 had enough corn to fill both of them that fall and some left and I know that if I had not built the second silo 1 would have had to buy more hay that winter to carry my stock through the winter than the silo cost me the first year and it is good for many years to come. About the Indiana Silo 1 will say this, that the one stave silo is the only silo for me as the silage is good from the top to the bottom. There is no leakage at any place as the stave runs the full height of the silo, but the short stave silo has some faults. Where the staves are joined they will leak more or less. Mine does and I have a good bit of spoiled silage along the sides of the K • silo, but in the Indiana Silo I have no waste from top to bottom. I have had some trouble in zero weather. The silage would freeze to the staves, which no one can prevent. I take a feed out of the silo the same as at any other time and if any is frozen to the staves I take the fork and pry it off the staves and throw it in the middle of the silo and cover it up with an old binder cover, and some old binder canvass. The frozen silage is all thawed out by the time I am ready to feed again. Furthermore, the cover will keep the silage from freezing. The steam of the silage will stick to the cover and make it air proof in cold weather and it is better for stock when it is warm in cold weather than when it is frozen. Do not cover it in warm weather. As for economy in feeding corn fodder the silage is the only way the stock will eat it clean without any waste. Shredded fodder is good feed but I can't say how much feed there is in the fodder. I always had to clean the mangers when I fed shredded fodder, but when I feed silage my mangers are always clean. No matter how thick the corn stalks are there is never any left in the manger. I am getting sleepy so I guess I will quit for this time. If my writ- ing is any good to you use it, if not you know what to do with it. Yours truly. GEORGE LIEBO, Peru, Indiana. GRASS AND WEEDS AND A LITTLE CORN MAKE GOOD SILAGE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I am the first one to buy a silo of Lemay & Bevis, jrour local agents at Newton, 111. Also the first to come west of Newton, there being six others sold to be delivered at Newton. I bought a 12x30 silo in February. I planted 40 acres of land in corn from which Farm Home of G. W. Corbin, Wheeler, III. I expected to fill the silo, but did not raise 100 bushels on the 40 acres. My corn was planted on very low ground and I did not get to cultivate it, as it rained all through the plowing season. It was, in fact, the wettest year I have ever seen here, which time has been 40 years. I had a fine crop of large thrifty crab-grass, some water grass and some few smart weeds, so I hardly knew what to do. I concluded as I had a silo that I would put the grass and weeds in my silo. I took my grain binder and bound the grass and weeds and a few scattering coin stalks on about 30 acres and cut it with an ensilage cutter and put it in the silo. I can say for a truth that there were not 50 bushels of corn all told put in silo. I began to feed silage the 1st of January to 25 head of cattle, 9 head of cows, 8 head of two year-old heifers and 8 head of yearlings. All but five of the cows had nothing but silage up to the 1st of April. I fed silage, also bran, oil meal and soy beans, to the five cows that were giving milk. As to the cattle other than milch cows I offered them a good grade of mixed hay (threshed) timothy and red top. They did not seem to care for the hay and would not eat it until they had eaten all of their silage, as I fed all together in a small manger. The cattle all seemed to relish the silage and it seemed to satisfy them. The result was that most of the cattle came through the winter in very good condition. I believe in better shape than if I had kept them on the hay which I offered them and was able to sell at $7.00 per ton on the 1st of March. If I had sold the same hay one month earlier I could have sold it for $8.00 per ton. At $7.00 per ton and 15 tons, which I believe would be the amount that it would require to feed all the cattle the same length of time that I fed silage, saved $105.00, with the cost of putting the grass in the silo, which would not be over $20.00 outside of my own work. I don't consider the stuff I i)ut in the silo worth anything, if it had not been put up green, as I had all of the same kind of stuff left that I could use. I draw a conclusion that if the kind of stuff that I put in my silo gave me good results, I believe that good corn silage would do better. Also that it wUl enable me to save some of my summer's work in case I do not have much but corn fodder or grass for feed, as sometimes we dry out here and also drown out, but nearly always make some fodder which is generally not worth anything for feed after it is cured up as it does not mature when either too wet or too dry but if it can be put up green it will make very good feed. It goes without saying that I am so well pleased with my experi- ence with my siio that I have ordered another one of the same size and make to be put up this summer. Yours truly, G. W. CORBIN, Wheeler, 111. AN OLD TIME WINTER. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ixd. Gentlemen: — The real old fashion winter shows no signs of aDate- ment. Shock corn that was scheduled to go through the shredder is largely standing in the field. Why not then put up a silo and avoid all this disagreeable work of digging out of the snow the necessary feed for the stock during the winter. With the silo you can prepare your winter feed during the bright days of September and when driving snows and wind come your stock is in the barn eating silage and making good gains, while on the other hand if you depend on corn fodder you are compelled to haul it out of the snow and mud and scatter it about on the ground and while the stock are eating up the feed that should be putting on pounds of flesh they are just getting enough to warm them up sufficiently to melt the snow on their backs. In this day of high priced feed farmers should do anything they can to grow a lot of it per acre. The only way to do this is by preparing to feed more stock on less land. There is no way by which you can do this so profitably as with a silo. Figure it yourself in 10 acres of corn. In a silo you get 30 acres of feed at a cost of ii;4.13 per acre with corn that will make 60 to 70 bushels of corn per acre, making 13 to 15 tons of feed per acre. Can you ])repare your corn any other way so that you get as much in return to proportion to the cost of the feed? FRANK W. COTTON, Manilla, Ind. Note — Mr. Cotton fed "John L. Sullivan," champion Shorthorn steer calf at Fat Stock Show. FranK ootion. 112 SMALL SILO SAVED OVER $300 FIRST YEAR. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — '¥011? letter received. You wanted to know the actual results in dollars and cents by the use of the Indiana Si.o, will write as I find it so with mine. I count it one of the largest money makers and money savers ever placed on a farm. In the summer of 1905 I had twenty-five acres of clover from which I harvested 40 tons of hay worth $7.00 per ton, making $280.00 and I paid out $17.00 for harvest hands. I also cut up 200 shocks of corn and paid 6c per shock to have it cut up, making $12.00. The fodder was worth 1,5 cents per shock, making $30.00. I had 200 bushels of corn which was worth 50c per bushel, making $100.00. Also, 100 bushels of oats worth 30c per bushel, mak- ing $30.00, and two tons of bran worth $22.00 per ton, makhig $44.00. All this I fed that winter and besides I bought two tons of hay at $7.00 per ton or $14.00, making the cost and value of my feed $513.00, which I fed to 25 head of cattle, 4 head of horses and twenty head of sheep. In the fall of 1906 I purchased an Indiana Silo, 14x24 which cost $125.00. I paid $25.00 to have it put up, making the total cost $150.00. I put seven acres of corn in it, which would average 50 bushels per acre and was worth 50c per bushel, making $175.00. I paid out $12.00 for hands to help fill silo. I cut up 100 shocks of corn, paid 7c per shock to have it cut, which is $7.00. The value of the fodder was 15c per shock or $15.00. All this making the cost and value of my feed in the winter of 1906, $212.00 and the cost of silo $162.00, including help, building of, and the silo itself. I fed the same number of cattle, horses and sheep as the year before with just as good results and less woik. Therefore, the cost of my feed in 1905 was $513.00 and the cost of feed in 1906, $212.00, so I saved $301.00 on feed the second year when I fed silage. I have had my silo four years and would not do without it. This winter I am feeding 17 head of cows, 13 of which I am milking, and 9 head of young cattle, which I feed straw and silage and I feed my milk cows one pound of oil meal a day to each cow, with silage, and I also feed fodder once a day and I sell the cream. The 13 cows average me $15 per week, which is better than before I had the silo and with less cost, and it not only saves money, but saves time. It does not take long to feed silage. If you see fit to use this article do so, for I have given you the re- sults I have obtained by using the silage for feed. Yours very truly, EDWARD MORRISON, Lucerne, Ind. ONLY THE USER OF SILO CAN REALIZE ITS BENEFIT. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gent'emen: — After having used one of your silos for the past three years I desire to say that I regard it as the best paying investment I have made on our farm. I am able to produce from its use more pounds at a less expense than by any other process of feeding I have employed. By the use of the silo I am able to get the grain cared for when the days are long and the weather is good, this being a feature that many farmers do not consider, but in my judgment it is a very important feature. The financial profit gained by the use of your silo can only be imagined by the person who does not have one and only realized by its actual use. "Very truly yours, JAMES M. LARMORE, Anderson, Ind. WHY EVERY FARMER SHOULD HAVE A SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Andekson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Hore is a statement of what the silo has done for me, this being the first year I have had it. In October I 1 ought four head of cattle for $72. Ot), fattened them and sold them in January for $125.00. I sold 1.5 lbs. of butter per week at 28c while other years the cows stood dry. I also so'd 9 tons of hay at $14.00 per ton, which otherwise I would have fed. I also fattened a nice barrel of pork with the milk. The silo has saved in all, this amount for us. Thanks to the silo, — every farmer should have one. Hoping this statement will be satisfactory to you and hoping to hear from you soon, I remain as ever. Yours truly, JOE Le BRECK, Jr., Oconto, Wis. A GOOD COMPARISON. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In August, IPOS, we erected one of your 20x30-foot Yellow Pine Indiana Silos. The first of December 70 head of feeding steers were put in the barn and divided into four lots, two of 20 each and two of 15 each The ration of all of them consisted of ensilage, hay, shelled corn and cottonseed meal and was weighed and charged for at market price by a representative of the Department of Agri- culture at Washington. The results were very satisfactory, not only being greater, but were made at considerable saving as compared with the old way of feeding. By comparing two lots of fifteen each with a similar lot of 30 head led on another farm on full dry ration, we found that the last men- tioned had eaten three bushels more corn per day and also more hay and weighed 55 lbs. per head less than the cattle fed on ensilage, when sold. The cattle were all sold the same day and at the same price. By comparing results of the two lots of 30 head each we found that the 30 fed on ensilage made a net profit of $442.45 over the others fed the old way. The results of feeding ensilage were perfectly satisfactory, so much so that we erected two more of your Indiana Silos on our other farms and are at this writing feeding 140 head on ensilage, shelled corn and hay. The hogs are very fond of the ensilage and will follow along the trough when feeding the cattle and will pick up that which is dropped or falls out of the trough and do much better after silage fed cattle than after drv fed cattle. Yours truly, J. H. MILLER. Yorktown, -Indiana. R. P. D. No 2, GOOD INVESTMENT; WILL BUY ANOTHER. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I have one of your silos, have used it one year and think it one of the best investments on my farm for the money it cost me. Would not think of doing without a silo. Expect to have another one in the near future. Yours very truly, PERRY CISCO, Rockford, Ohio. 114 KEEP COWS CHEAPER IN WINTER THAN SUMMER. INDIANA Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Received your letter and will say a few things in re- gard for a silo. We have been using an Indiana Silo for three years and v>?ould not be without one. Before we had our silo we could only keep two cows where now we have twelve cows and six heifers for we only have a twenty acre farm. There was only one silo in our neigh- borhood of which the owner was called a fool, for people didn't know what a silo was, but when ihcy saw how many cows he kept and in such good condition the people thought the silo alright. Since then there have been about forty put up within about seven miles of us, of which we were the third. Most all of these are the Indiana Silo, as they find them the most satisfactory and they are strongly built. We have a feed mill, but have not ground any grain this winter. Silo and Barn of H. Lungmus, Hamlet, Ohio. Our silo holds eighty tons, of which seven acres fill. We keep our cows cheaper in winter than in summer for in summer we rent our pasture five cents a cow a day. The man from whom we rent it has forty acres for them to roam over and in the winter we feed them the ensilage. We think in a year or two we will buy another one for sum- mer use as it is cheaper. Every person can figure for himself the profit he makes by keeping a silo. If he has a silo he can keep more cows than before, and if he keeps a dairy, and feeds ensilage his cows give more milk, so that's where the profit comes in by having a silo. Every man that keeps stock ought to have an Indiana Silo. A man goes around in this neighborhood with his machine only charging twenty-five cents a ton for filling the silo. As for the other help, those of whom own a silo come and help and we help them back so we do not have to hire help. Enclosed you will find a picture by which you will see our silo has not a roof as experience shows that ensilage keeps better without one. Yours truly, H. LUNGMUS, Hamlet, Ohio. THE ACTUAL RESULTS OF A SILO. Indiana Siix) Co., Anukkson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Being a dairyman I speak from a practical experience on that line. The silo is indispensable tor that purpose. In some cases it saves a crop that would otherwise be lost. For instance, last year the sea- sou was extremely wet and I did not get to plant ray eight acres of bot- tom land in corn until June 17tli. The latter part of September 1 put it into the silo, it being then in the roasting ear stage. I had one acre on a hill which was very ripe. I husked all of the ripe corn and cut the stover and mixed it with the green bottom corn and had good si age. My green corn without a silo would have been almost a total loss, as the next week after filling the silo a heavy killing frost came which practically destroyed all green corn. In rjus 1 husked 80 bushels W. D. Clone's Silo, La Grange, Ky. of corn from 8 acres and let it dry on the ground, then hauled it in. Fed some to my stock hogs and crushed some and fed to my cows. I put the remainder, inchiding stover, into the silo which made good silage for cows. One of the greatest advantages of the silo is that you can plant your corn late or early and market two-thirds in roasting ears and put the remainder in the silo and have good silage, or you can plant early, husk one-half and put balance in silo and 'have silage for dairy cows. By the use of a silo I make from three to four times as much feed as I can other feed on the same ground. I have now Q~> or 70 tons of good silage which would have been almost destroyed by frost and worth probably $30.00. By feeding silage I make at least 20 per cent more milk. By selling tw^o-thirds of the roasting ears I would realize about $30.00 per acre and eight acres would amount to $240.00 and have 60 or 70 tons of silage which will still make a valuable increase in milk. Silage is good for almost anything on the farm, from chickens to horses. My cows and calves eat it more heartily than any other feed on the farm. I have a six weeks' old calf that eats it heartily. The silo is valuable for feeding beef cattle by i)utting oil of the corn and stover in it. These are only a few of the advantages of the silo. If a farmer wants to avoid the inclement weather and make his work a pleasure rather than a burden and save the expense of at least one hand in winter I advise him to invest a small sum in an Indiana Silo with the continuous door and I am satisfied that he will be pleased and doubly paid. Respectfully, W. D. CLORE, Lagrange, Ky. FEEDS SILAGE TO EVERYTHING. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen — 1 have filled my silo three times and have found it to be a very beneficial store pit for feed for all kinds of stock and poultry. My silo is 16x30 feet. Twelve acres of corn, producing 50 bushels to the acre will fill it. I am feeding 30 head of cattle, 10 of which are 2 and 3 years old. The two year olds are in good flesh and the 3 year olds are also in good flesh and ready for pasture or market. They will weigh 1,475 pounds per liead, good for $6.U0 per cwt. By feeding ensilage with straw and fodder seven cows will give % more milk. I have 13 head ranging from 10 months to a year old and are in good flesh wliich I know is due to feeding ensilage. Twelve acres of corn cut and put in a silo is worth 36 acres of timothy hay. In 1908 I sold my cattle for 41/20, in 1909 for 5%c. The cattle that I expect to aeil in the spring will be worth 6c. We also feed our chickens ensilage and they are healthy and in- crease the amount of eggs. One can see by the use of a silo anyone can greatly improve the weight and quality of their steers. By using straw for bedding I will make 45 loads of manure, (9 loads to the acre), will cover 5 acres which will yield 20 bushels of corn more to the acre. 20x5 — 100 bushels and at 50c per bu. will gain $.^)0.00 on 5 acres. As ever yours, f. N. CLARY, Lucerne, Indiana. SILAGE IMPROVES APPETITE AND IMPROVES DIGESTION. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I praise the silo very highly and find it to be one of the most beneficial factors of the farm. It can be filled when the weather is nice and warm and days are of good length and your ground is clean and nice for seeding,— does not injure your ground by hauling out the corn,— is the most economical way of handling the corn crop at a small expense,— no waste of feed and a good bunch of feed always in the dry and handy and easy to feed. Ensilage is a feed on which cattle do well. It helps to give appetite, improves digestion and gives a good appearance to the cattle. Nine acres of average corn will fill a silo 14x24 and it will take three times nine acres of hay to take its place. A silo is the thing for a poor man as well as the man of wealth, also the small farm as well as the large farm. A man with 40 acres of land and a silo can keep as many cattle as a man with 80 acres without the silo. Yours respectfully, LUYE J. CLARY, Lucerne, Indiana. 117 WHAT THE SILO HAS DONE FOR ME. Indiana Silo Co., Andekson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Six years ago I was living on a rented farm in Lake County, Indiana. I was paying big cash rent. Light crops that year made me wonder how I was going to get through, make the rent, and live. There was a large square silo on the place. I had not used it before because there was no machine in the surrouuding country to fill it with, so I bought one and filled the silo, which was quite old. We put in about twenty- five acres of short, but fairly well eared corn. We fed that feed as a whole feed except oat straw, which was fed in a feed-rack. No other grain or hay was fed to forty head of cows and I sold $1,065.00 worth of milk. While it lasted the cows were slick but run down a little in flesh. The milk was good. We filled the silo the next year but fed dry grain and hay with it. which I think is better as silo feed is not a balanced ration alone. We then moved to Porter County and did not have a silo the first year. It seemed as if we could hardly get enough feed from one hun- dred and sixty acres to feed twenty-five cows. The next year I got an Indiana Silo. I wintered 48 head of stock that year, 30 cows, 10 head of youns, cattle and 8 horses and had about 15 ton of hay to sell. The next year about the same. In the year of 1909 we sold $300.00 worth of hay and we will have plenty to feed 30 cows, 11 head of young cattle and 9 horses, 50 head in all. We find we can make a gain of two cans of milk a day (8 gallon cans) from 30 cows, over what we can make on dry feed. We feed three pecks of silo feed to a cow twice a day, and about half as much grain as we do on dry hay. We feed hay two or three times a week after they have eaten their silo feed. The cows are fat and slick and they shed their hair four to six weeks earlier than they do on dry feed. I think we will double the production of the farm in a few years with the help of the silo and the cows. The silo is the salvation of the dairy or stock man. It saves feed, makes summer; conditions in winter, makes the cows glad and pays the dairyman 100 per cent. H. F. CAREY, Valparaiso, Indiana. BETTER HAVE CORN IN SILO THAN OUT IN SNOW. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen:— In answer to your letter will say as I have no scales, I can't furnish you weights. But I don't need scales to see what my silo has done for me. For the fast three years I have had nearly the same amount of stock. I always fed everything that looked like feed in shape of rough- ness, besides as much grain as I put in my silo this year. This year I have already sold $128.00 worth of hay and still have a good supply on hand, with twenty acres of stalks scarcely touched and silage enough to last till grass is knee high, and my cattle are at least worth $5.00 a head more as when I used the starvation plan. To say nothing of the three months strictly cold and bad weather this winter. As to the cost of filling the silo I consider it cheaper than digging fodder out of the snow all winter. Cost of silo is about the same as a barn that would shelter the same amount of feed. My silo is 16x30. We filled it with eleven acres of corn in 1% days. I am truly thankful for your square dealing. Yours truly, FRANK CERKA, Zearing, Iowa. SILO SAVED OVER $300 IN FIVE MONTHS. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In regard to your silo I will say I would not think of keeping stock without one, after using yours for the past five months. I cannot say enough for the silo. I put four acres of corn in it, I have kept six cows for five months almost entirely on ensilage, have not given them two tons of hay, — four of the cows giving milk for which I have received $183.52. I have saved at the lowest five tons of hay at $15.00 per ton and $50.00 on sugar feed. Total saved on feed and milk $308.52. The cost of filling silo, rent of land and care of corn $50.00. I figure that the milk used in the house and manure made will pay for the care of the six cows for the five months or a profit from the six cows of $258.52. Yours for the silo, ALVIN CHURCH, Poplar Grove, 111. SILO MADE FARM PAY FOR THE FIRST TIME. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — We are so well pleased with the silo which we pur- chased from your agent last fall that we feel it our duty to write you concerning same. We filled the silo chuck full (125 tons) from 15 acres of silo corn and began to feed the silage on November 1st and have fed from same every day since, this makes five full winter months' feed for 25 cows, 4 yearling heifers and a large bull. The only feed used in addition was two tons of bran and what fodder the cattle would eat when turned out in the feed lot and we still have 10 or 12 tons of this silage left which we are feeding. We have milked from these cows on an average of 50 gallons of milk per day and are selling same in Columbus, O., at 20c per gallon. In other words the money invested in your silo has paid us the largest return of any investment we have ever made on the farm and we would not do without it if it would actually cost us five times the purchase price. The only regret is that we did not purchase the silo sooner as this is the first year that the farm itself has been a paying invest- ment. Yours very truly, THE CAPITOL DAIRY FARM CO. J. H. METCALF, Pres., Columbus, O. THE SILO AND A RETAIL DAIRY MAN. Indtana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen:— Answering yours of the 19th inst. would say that our experience from the use of the Indiana Silo dates back to the fall of 1907 and it has been more than satisfactory and highly profit- able to us. ,. , u r 1 We were in the retail milk business then and our books show fol- lowing local conditions and the handsome profit we saved to start in with: J V, • T- Sept., 1907.— Clover hay not to be had. Corn very scarce and high. Timothy hay held at $18.00. Without a silo we required not less than forty-five tons of hav to carry us to grass. A grajn ration to balance the timothy easily ran our feed bill up to more than what our milh' would sell for. 45 tons hay at $18 00 *810 00 119 With ensilage we used 12 tons for noon feed; 12 tons at $18.00.. 216 00 Corn to fill silo, 1 2x30 180 00 Filling silo * 60 00 $456 00 $3."'>4.00 saved to start in with and with the savings we are able to make on our grain rations, we paid for the silo and made fair wages for our winter's work. Without the silo we would have run heavily behind and our hours of raw-hiding a thankee job. Some of our fresh cows on ensilage produced milk for several T. H. Case's Delivery Wagon and Team, New London, O. Aveeks for vj. of a cent a quart. We firmly believe every dairyman should have (2) silos, one for winter and one for summer use. While ensilage is very profitable as a winter feed it surely brings in a harvest in the summer in connection with the pasture. Our books show that in .June and July of 1909 we sold $570.00 worth of milk and cream. We produced $600.00 worth but our trade was somewhat ir- regular. Cost of same: 12 ton ensilage at $2.00 $24 00 Grain ration for June 20 00 Grain ration for July 30 00 $74 00 We carried from IS to 24 head and sold milk at 5 cents in summer Our ensilage ran low in July, thus extra expense for grain. Many of our patrons had very queer ideas as to what a silo was and what the feed would do. We had numerous requests not to use the ensilage as it would taint tlie milk and ruin our business. One kind old lady said, "Mr. Case, don't you ever feed 'silos' to your cows. My folks fed them when 1 was a girl and nearly killed the whole herd and they afterwards grew all over the farm." Gents, if you have that variety in stock now, kindly pass the seed this way. In conclusion wish to say that we never had nicer milk than when feeding ensilage and our greatest trouble was in keeping pace with a growing business. Yours, CASE & CASE, Per T. H. Case, New London, Ohjf» 120 CORN IS CUT, SHOCKED AND COOKED SAME DAY. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — My experience in my first year with my silo: In the spring of 1908 I bought of your agent a Cypress Silo, 16x30 feet, cost $350.00 set up. In September I put in 10 acres of small corn estimated at 10 bushels an acre, dry year, poor corn. I bought 30 cattle in Chicago, weighing 22,270 I'os., cost laid down at home $779.23. Opened silo Jan. 1, '09. At that time the silage had settled to 12 feet deep. Fed silage night and morning with some poor hay and some fodder. The bunch of steers ran to a straw stack and had a shed for shelter if they chose to go in. Silage gave out in April and was compe led to finish to time of blue grass with hay and foilder. Here is where I lost corn at 80c. I decided not to risk it. If I had had silage my cattle would have brought 6c in June. Sold cattle last July at 15.10. 30 cattle brought $1,484.75. 30 cattle cost $779.23. 17 tons hay cost $70.00. Total cost of cattle and hay $849.23. Total profit $635.52. Had my corn grown as in an ordinary year I would have had 25 feet of silage instead of 12 feet and have fed on and sold my cattle in June at 6c, and made $300.00 more money and had left on farm a straw stack and my hay and fodder in manure pile that covered 8 acres of ta- bacco ground. You know what that means at 10c tobacco. I am satisfied my silo paid more than half of its cost in saving of feed after allowing for bad corn crop. Had I had it full of silage it would have paid for itself the first winter. No person can do without a silo if he has stock, if he is compelled to borrow money to get it. The corn as fed is Cut, shocked, husked and cooked the day it is put in silo, — silage is the same as cooked feed. Yours very truly, CLARENCE CHILDS, West Middletown, Ohio. ENDEAVOR TO PRODUCE MOST AT LEAST HARM TO SOIL. Indiana Silo Co., Andeeson, Ind. Gentlemen:— Yours of the 24th ult. at hand, in which you ask for statement showing jirofits from use of silo and offering cash prize for best article. Also all the articles in book form sent to each contestant Neither my experience nor ability would justify me in attempting to be a prize winner but write to secure the experience of others. My use of a silo is limited to the past winter and is about as follows: My corn was hard hit by hail, almost all the blades were off and the grain did not mature so that it was badly damaged for feed or market. I filled my silo from the worst piece, do not think the corn worth more than $60 cash, expense of filling $12.50. I began feeding December 1st. Fed 10 head straight and have enough to last until June 1st. Also fed a few sheep and also find it a natural food for them. I gave my horses some this spring and find they leave their shredded fodder readily for it. As my cows were to freshen early I did not try to greatly increase their flow of milk but just wintered on ensilage without grain or other feed. This I do not recommend, yet my cows came through in good shape and are milking freely since freshening. They do not show that gaunt, restless disposition with a desire to quit 121 their feed at the first appearance of grass which we used to so much dread. I also think it is the best chance for wheat we have as the corn comes off in good time and there is no more tramping. This is my experience in short. I have no doubt but that with better ensilage I shall like it still better. At present I would not think of doing without a silo. As guardians of the soil I think our aim should be to produce the most feed with the least possible harm to the ground and one way is to use an Indiana Silo. Yours respectfully, LEW CHAMBERLAIN, Sheridan, Indiana. ENSILAGE FED AND ALMOST TWICE THE GAIN. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — There are three main reasons why the Indiana Silo which has been in use on my farm four years, has been a paying proposition to me, viz.: (1) It is built of the best material and is, therefore, the most durable. (2) It is the most economical way of preparing succulent feeds. (3) It is a paying investment to me because it makes more profits than any other manner of feeding. To explain the first reason I can say from my own experience that there are no decayed parts, no broken joints, no broken hoops, the doors fit perfectly and I have had no expense for repairs. To explain No. 2 I use my silo for fattening cattle. I have an ensilage cutter for four farms which cost me $125.00. I hire an en- gineer and engine for 34.00 per day, use three men in the field for cut- ting, two for loading, one for feeding cutter, one for tramping in silo and four teams. In 2% days' we had filled the silo, using ten acres of corn and have one hundred tons of feed, at a total cost, except cuttev, of $66.25, teams $3.00 and men $1.50 per day. Another advantage in putting up feed in this way, it is earlier in the season, the days are longer and you can get more work done for the same amount of money. Then you have ten acres of corn that is out of the way and the land is ready for early seeding. Now if we had cut this corn, 250 shocks at eight cents a shock, $20.00; shucking 750 bushels at five cents, $37.50; hauling fodder, $22.50; making a total of $92.00. Therefore, I saved $25.75 on harvesting the crop besides these other advantages. You can see that in this way an Indiana Silo will soon pay for itself. In the 3rd to show the profits from ensilage feeding I will give some comparisons from my cattle feeding: I have 22 yearlings in one pen that get no ensilage, and 100 head of calves that get ensilage. Now during the period Dec. 10, 1909, to Jan. 7. 1910, I will give the amount of feed each bunch received and what they weighed. The yearlings got as their daily ration per head, 10 1-5 lbs. of shelled corn, 7 lbs. of clover hay, 1 lb. of cotton seed meal. They weighed on Dec. 10th, 736 lbs. per head. On Jan. 7th they weighed 778 lbs. per head. Making an average daily gain of I14 lbs. per head. The 100 calves got as their daily ration per head, 10 lbs. of ensilage, 5 lbs. of clover hay, 5 lbs. of shelled corn, % lb. of cotton seed meal. They weighed on Dec. 10th, 465 lbs. per head. On Jan. 7th they weighed 535 lbs. per head, making an average daily gain of 2i/4 lbs. per head. So taking into consideration the gain made by the bunch fed ensilage and the gain made by the bunch not fed ensilage, I think there is no better way of feeding cattle than to have an Indiana Silo. OSCAR J. CURRENT, Redkey, Ind. SILO INCREASED MILK PRODUCTION 8634 PER CENT. lNr>iA\A Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Yours of the 26th received and I herewith write you the results I obtained the first year by the use of an Indiana Silo. I erected an Indiana Silo in August, 1908, size 16x30, capacity 120 tons, which I filled in September, same year, off of 10 acres of land at a cost, including the rent of land, of $6.00 per acre; cost of tending same, filling the silo and for planting and all expenses ready to feed, $1.40 per ton. I opened the silo on November 15th, 1908, and fed 30 head of cattle, including young stock, until May 11th, 1909, and had enough left to feed 18 head of milch cows during a part of August and September during a very severe drought. On December 1st, 1907, I began to weigh the milk from each cow every day as she became fresh, both night and morning.and have continued to do so ever since. 1 find that the same cows with the same grain ration and for the same number of months made a gain in the milk production of 1,318 lbs each, or 36% per cent, and a gain in money for milk sold of Indiana Silo on Oak Dale Stock Farm, Dixon, III. Observe Results Obtained and Compare With Your Own. $17.40 each. I am satisfied that the benefits of feeding ensilage does not end with the feeding of the cows that are fresh during the winter months as all my winter herd was never in so good condition when turned out to pasture and my whole herd made a gain of 958 lbs. of milk each on an average in 1909 over 1808, the year before I erected the silo. My herd's average production of milk in 1909 was 7,220 lbs. and the average amount received for milk from each cow was $86.77 and the average cost for keeping each cow was $48.07, net receipts from each cow were $38.70. The average percentage of butter fat was 3.78. The amount received for every dollar expended for feed was $1.80 1^. You may draw your own conclusion as to my opinion of ensilage for feeding dairy cows. Yours respectfully, I. B. COUNTRYMAN, Dixon, 111. ACTUAL RESULTS IN DOLLARS AND CENTS. iNDiAJVA Silo Co., Axdeuson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Answering your request for information as to the actual results obtained by me from the use of an Indiana Silo in dollars and cents I submit the following conservative statement: I purchased an Indiana Silo in the summer of 1908, size 18x30 ft., at a cost of $:]00.00. I put it on a concrete foundation and after the concrete hardened excavated to the bottom of the foundation four feet, therefore, 1 had a capacity of 18x34 ft. Into this silo I put approximately 15 acres of corn estimated to yield about 800 bushels. My barn holds 48 head of cows. I commenced feeding from the silo the first day of December, 1908, and fed till the first of May, 1909, a period of five months, when my silo was emptied. My cows had nothing but silage and clover hay and came through the winter in beter shape and yielded a better flow of milk than they had ever done before. I put up a'lout the same amount of hay as usual but fed less than any other winter. I fed my cows before using silage, about one peck of crushed corn per day with clover hay. One peck of corn per day for 48 cows is 12 bushels per day and for a period of 5 months, or 150 days, is 1,800 bushels of corn. So my silo saved the first winter, 1,000 bushe's of corn which would have brought from 60 to 65 cents per bushel ac- cording to the time it was marketed. I sold $100.00 worth of hay, something I had never done before having a silo and my acreage and yield was no greater than in former years. The year 1909 was the first year I ever got through without buying from 1,000 to 2,000 bushels of corn. I, therefore, submit the following statement as to results for the first year of using silo: Cost of silo $300 00 Cost of erecting foundation and feed room.... 100 00 Cost of filling 90 00 $490 00 Saved 1,000 bu, of corn at G5c $650 00 Sold hay 100 00 Cost of husking 1 .". acres 30 00 $780 00 After deducting total first cost for the silo the statement shows a net profit of $290.00. This year the profit or saving will be much greater as there will be no charge for silo and its erection. The only charge will be for filling which is less than last year owing to the ex- perience gained at that time. I believe the statement submitted is conservative and the actual results greater than estimated. Yours truly, G. E. COALE, West Liberty, Iowa. I am sorry 1 have no photo of buildings to accompany this com- munication. AFTER THREE YEARS' USE OF SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen:— I will give my experience with silage. Tliis is the third year since I first built a 14x30 foot Indiana Silo. The first year I filled it full, fed ."5 head of cattle 7 months and had 8 weeks' feed left until the following July and August. When the pasture failed the silage was nice and sweet and carried my cows through the drought which would have been very expensive had I not had the silage. Since the first I have been putting in the silo from 12 to 14 acres of corn, from which I feed 25 head of cows and heifers and calves and a bull for seven months and it takes 45 acres to pasture same cattle five months. Now you see with two silos I could feed the same number of cattle one year from the corn raised on from 25 to 30 acres, where by pasturing in summer it takes from 55 to 60 acres for the same amount of stock. Of course, you will need some roughness. I shred my corn that is left from the filling of silo and feed the shredded fodder to cows, some pea hay and some alfalfa hay. The richer the roughness the more milk there is. Another profit in feeding silage according to my judgment is the manure made by feeding silage is worth double of that made by feed- ing dry feed. TTiat has been my experience. My farm has been pro- ducing better every year since I built my silo. I feed everything in doors, therefore, there is no loss of manure, which is of great value on the land. In this country a man with two silos can keep 50 head of dairy cows on 100 acres and raise all the feed needed for them the year round and make his land better every year. A man can't say too much for the silo for they surely are a great feed saver. Another great point for the silo is the small amount of room it takes for so large an amount of feed. Another very important point is you don't have to wait until winter and bad weather to put your feed away. Fill your silo in the fall when the weather is good and when every bit of nutriment is in the corn or whatever feed you want to put in. ADOther point, when you go in the silo even in the severest weather 3'ou will be comfortable. Yours truly, W. E. COLVIN, Gluey, Illinois. SILO TRIPLES CAPACITY OF FARM. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In answer to yours as to the profits to be had from the use of silos, I would be pleased to say I bought my first silo upon the advise of another user, and to save a weedy piece of corn that did not promise more than 50 per cent a crop. TTiough I filled with corn, rag weeds, jimpson and everything that came before the harvestei', iti was all eaten, and proved as valuable as the same acres of good corn had previously done. Heifeis which I had been selling at ZV2 cents were enough better to bring 4 cents. Steers that under like markets would bring 4 to 4% cents now brought 5 cents. Yearling and two-year old heifers and some steers, the next spring, paid extra profits, from the use of ensilage, to the amount of $265.00. This was in the winter of 1904 and 1905. In October, 1905, I bought a car of calves. The results of feeding silage, hay and some shelled oats until the following April were a gain at current prices of $550.00. On pasture these calves did extra well, continued to grow and never scoured, but when very dry weather came they quit growing. Then and there I determined in the 125 future to have silage the year round. Mr. Wilson sold me a second and bigger silo so that when winter came I had besides my hay, corn and straw, 2S8 tons of excellent feed. The next spring I sold half my cattle at 5% cents, fed and finished on hay, ensilage and one-half of one feed of corn daily. The other half I sold the following August for 6 cents, finished on grass, ensilage and 1,000 lbs. of oil meal. The appreciation in price alone gave me a net profit of $250.00, more than enough to pay for my new silo. As Mr. Wilson had sold it to me to be selected from the rejected pile, I had fully convinced myself that a farmer could build a silo new each year and make money. Tlirough the Indiana Silo Co. I bought a car of 59 heifer calves for $855.00, kept them from Oct. 14, 1907, to Feb. 17, 1909, and received $2,623.04. Though these calves were 14 days on the road, right from the cow, and were fed less corn than the previous load they were well fin- ished, selling but 15c less than big steers the same day. As Mr. Wilson saw the figures for both ends of the deal the figures cannot be doubted. In this calculation I have not included 300 tons of prime manure which we put out last year. Here are some points easily verified among silo users: A calf will eat and assimilate ensilage at a younger age than any other feed. From it you can secure a finer coat and better finish in winter and early spring than from anything else. You can make more and better manure. You can carry three times as many cattle on the same farm, same size crop and same size expense account. Ten acres of corn siloed is worth 22 acres used in the ordinary way. Cattle will pass from winter quarters on ensilage to summer pasture and continue their growth and will not scour. The silo is the only way to get full va'ue from a crop of soft or late corn. Verv trnlv, PORTER COPELAND, Warrington. Ind. FACTS ABOUT OUR SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — We purchased our first silo about one year ago and therefore have only had one year's experience but that proves to be a benefit. Before having the silo our grain ration for our herd of dairy cows cost $3. GO per day and during the past winter it has cost $1.40 per day with the use of silage. I have made no record of the hay that was fed as we fed them what they would clean up fairly good during each winter, but I am certain from the appearance of our hay mow that we have not fed more than half the amount of hay we did before using the silage. We feed all the silage the cows will clean up, which is no certain amount of pounds as we are feeding all sizes from a large Holstein down to a small Jersey. As we weigh and test our milk regularly I can say that other con- ditions considered, I think silage will increase the milk flow at an average of 10 lbs. of milk per week over dry feeding and when it comes to figuring that amount on ten, twenty, thirty or more cows it proves silage to be of considerable financial benefit. I also wish to state that our cattle have never gone through the winter in better physical con- dition than during the past winter. We are very well satisfied with our silo and thank Mr. Swain, the president of the Indiana Silo Co.. for impressing upon our minds the fact that we needed one, J. C. BRUER & SON, Per E. C. Bruer, McDowell. 111. NOTHING COMPARES WITH SILAGE. Indiana Silo Co., Andeeson, Ind. Gentlemen :^The Case Dairy Company erected their first silo in 1905, a small one 14x30 feet. We were so well pleased with the results obtained by the use of ensilage that we erected another one in 1907, 20x40. Con- tinued good results followed and our herd having been greatly increased, the Indiana Silo Co. erected another still larger one for us in 1908. This silo was 24x50 feet and was said to be the largest silo in Iowa. All these silos have been filled with corn ensilage only and fed to our herd of dairy cows numbering from .50 to 100. Our young stock has also been fed with ensilage as well as horses, hogs, and chickens and all animals fed on it have thrived on it and have come through the winter in better shape than the stock of neighboring farmers who have not fed One of the Largest Indiana Silos Ever Built, on Case Dairy Farm, Waterloo, la. ensilage. Milch cows, especially, do much better on ensilage than without it, giving more milk and presenting a much better appearance. We have planted our corn in different ways, checking it in and drill- ing it. We have planted early and late, even as late as July 1st. However the corn is planted it makes good feed. A field can be kept cleaner by checking the corn in and there will be more ears, which is no objection. But the ordinary weeds that grow in corn fields make good feed when cut up with the corn and thus there is very little waste. We prefer to plant about four or five kernels in a hill, if checked, or to drill it pretty thickly, say five or six inches apart in a row. The ears, of course, are not so large, but the stalks are smaller and everything is eaten up. The corn should be dented but the stalks and leaves should be green and juicy. If an early frost nips the corn get it into the silo as quickly as pos- sible before it has time to dry up much. We have used some corn, how ever, that was pretty dry, but the ensilage kept well and made excellent feed. If the corn should be too dry, water may be put into the blower and carried up with the corn. We begin feeding immediately after the silo is filled. If feeding is not commenced at once a few inches on top will become mouldy. 127 When feeding, a thin layer should be taken off the entire top daily to prevent any spoiling. We feed 4u to GO lbs. daily to each cow, half in the morning and half in the evening. A little clover or alfalfa hay should be fed at noon. The heaviest milkers should be fed mill feed in addition, say a mixture of bran, oil meal and corn meal, or bran, cotton seed meal, gluten meal, etc. As regards the cost of ensilage probably as good a way as any to get at it Avould be to name the prices we have had to pay for ensilage we have bought of others v/hen we had not enough of our own. We have paid $2.yO, $3.00 and this year when feed has been unusually high $3.50 per ton. We have bought corn of others in the field at $10.00, $12.00 and $15.00 per acre. We estimate that the entire cost of raising the corn and getting the ensilage into the silo should never cost more than $2.00 to $3.00 per ton. One ton of ensilage will feed one cow 40 days if she is fed 50 lbs. a day. That is five cents a day at $2.00 a ton and seven and one-half cents a day at $3.00 a ton. Compare that with hay at the usual price and you will see the advantage in cost as well as in the health and productiveness of the cow. An experience of five years has convinced us that no other roughage can compare with good corn silage. LAFAYETTE W. CASE, Waterloo, Iowa. SILO SAVED HALF ON MILL FEED. Indiana Si',o Co., Andeeson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Received your letter some time ago. In answer to your letter, my silo gives the best results. It is a money-maker to the farmer. 1st. It benefits in saving fodder. 2nd. you don't have to shuck the fod- der in the snow or dig in the snow after it. 3rd. It saves grinding corn because the corn is in the silo. We shipped more milk this winter than we did other winters from the same amount of cows. They are in better shape and look better than they ever did and I only feed half a gallon of bran to each. Other winters we fed one gallon of bran and one gallon of crushed corn to a feed, which we saved through our silo and our cows like it better than any other feed. It gives more manure in the barn by feeding silage. That is what we want, to make the ground good so we can raise better corn for the silo. Our silo is empty now and ready for another filling. Yours truly, AUGUST ABERT, Kaufman, 111. ADVISES EVERY FARMER TO BUILD SILOS. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — The Indiana Silo purchased last year gives entire satis- faction. I have never had cheaper feed for cows than corn silage, and never did my cows do so well in giving as much milk all winter as they have this year. We also used a distributer which gave entire satisfaction and helps to keep the silage. We did not lose any silage from decay only on top. The sides all kept well, all in good condition all the way down. Hardly any loss near the doors, none was so liad that the cows did not eat it. I would advise every farmer with 10 head of cattle to use an Indiana Silo. I believe they are the cheapest and best made silos on the market. We think we have saved one-half the cost of the silo this season. Yours truly, WM. AUGSPURGER & SON. Rensselaer, Ind. EIGHT ACRES OF ENSILAGE KEEPS TWENTY-FOUR CATTLE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — We received your silo in first class condition. We found it easier and cheaper to fill the silo than to cut and husk the corn. We fed 16 cows. 4 young cattle, 4 calves, a sow and 10 November pigs on ensilage and will have enough ensilage to feed until grass comes. Our stock we fed on silage is doing well, in fact, I think ensilage is the cheapest feed a farmer or dairyman can use. We have got the best re- sults from 8 acres of corn, in fact, better than we could have gotten with M. R. Allen's Silo, Near Bellefontaine, Ohio. any other feed. We have bought less bran the past winter and our herd looks and milks better with ensilage than with any other feed. Yours respectfully, M. R. ALLEN, Highland Dairy Farm, Bellefontaine, Ohio. COWS FALL OVER EACH OTHER GETTING TO SILAGE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — We are well pleased with our silo. Our cows were fatter this winter than they ever were since we owned our cow.s. We got one-half more cream. The cows fall over each other getting in the barn to get their feed. Before we got our silo our cows went dry eight weeks before time to find their calves. Now we can't get them dry long enough to find their calves. We only feed them silage and a little corn fodder outside of the barn. If I only had six cows I would fill my silo. We wouldn't know what to do without silage now, for it is so good to feed the cows when the pasture is so short. I hope you will have good success in your good work. Yours truly, JOHN W. ANGLIN, Etna Green, Ind. A REPORT IN FIGURES. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Like many other good things the silo can show added benefits the longer it is used. I filled my silo the first time in 1904 and it has been in use every year since. My purpose was to supply my dairy with a substitute for grass during the winter season, and thus provide a better balanced ration, but I soon wanted silage through summer drouth, also when pasture was poor, or almost a minus quantity. After experienc- ing the drouth of 1908, I bought a second Indiana Silo and can now supply 30 cows with silage every day in the year. I had previously tried renting pasture of neighbors and found it took the profits and also built up the other fellow's ground. The two silos hold two hundred tons and the filling of them for 1900 cost as follows: 18 acres corn at $18.00 $324 00 6 pitchers at $2.00 per day for 21/2 days 30 00 3 men to tramp at $1.50 per day 11 25 Man and team to exchange with neighbors 10 days. . 20 00 Cutting corn with binder at $1.00 per acre 18 00 Twine for binding 6 00 Fuel for engine 6 00 Three dinners for men at 25c each 13 50 Charge for ensilage cutter at 25c per ton 50 00 Total cost for silage $478 75 This makes the cost per ton $2.39 for a feed that is worth much more for a farmer. I have also found that the corn which goes into the silo is har- vested in its most desirable stage and in a more pleasant season for the work than that which is harvested by any other means and with, far less loss, for the corn is cut off at the ground and the entire plant is saved. The silos are practically as good as ever for using and I expect to see silage go into them manv more vears. Yours respectfully, I. .T. ATKINSON, Cambv, Indiana. WOULDN'T BE WITHOUT SILO. J.vDiANA Sii.o Co., Anderson Inp. Gentlemen: — In answer ro your letter of a short time ago, I would say your silos are all right. I fed silage to my cattle and sheep; never had them so well before. Fattened six head on it ready for market and they were in good shape. I also fed my sheep once a day and never had them do so well lambing and the lambs are large and strong. I would not be without a silo after seeing the good results of one. Yours respectfully, SAM E. BROWNELL, Cedar Springs, Mich. A GLIMPSE OF ITS EARNING POWER. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I bought a silo from you last August. Put 12 acres of corn that would make about 30 bushels to the acre into it. Have fed 25 steers 6 months, besides two milk cows, 14 sheep, 4 mules. Am feeding yet but don't know just the amount of profit, but to sell now would make $600.00 on the steers. I regard it the best investment I ever made, saves feed, saves rent, save.5 every way. Yours truly, W. F. BROWN, Modesto, 111. 130 ONE ACRE MADE TO EQUAL MORE THAN FOUR. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen :^ — Your letter of the 12th Inst, at hand Inviting me into your contest. Thanking you for same I am sending photograph of barn, herd and self under separate cover. This being my third winter feeding ensilage from an Indiana Silo I feel as I have given it a fair test and in position to recommend same to others. I have never practiced soiling so have only fed ensilage during winters of 1907-08, 1908-09 and 1909 and . I have a year's record of 5 registered Holstein heifers which fresh- ened in Oct., 1907. Record began Nov. 1, 1907, and continues for one year, and does not include calves or value on manure. All feeds were counted at their market prices. All were fed alike. Cost of Feed per Cow per Day. Cost of Feed for Five Cows Ensilage, 40 lb $ 48 172 Days. W. Bran, 4 lb 50 Ensilage $ 41 28 Corn, 4 lb 30 Bran 43 00 Linseed Meal, 1 lb 16 Corn 25 80 Clover Hay, 10 lb 30 Linseed Meal 13 76 Clover Hay 25 80 Total $1 74 Total $149 64 Pasture 194 days $ 30 00 Total cost of feed for 366 days (1908, leap year) $179 64 Gross returns, $406.15; feed, $179.64; net $226 51 This amount of feed produces over 21 tons of milk. Note — The ensilage in this case being a highly succulent food, takes place of high priced concentrates, about 17 tons of ensilage less than two tons of bran, about 50 bu. of corn, 4% tons of hay. According to feed analysis, one ton of timothy hay contains prac- tically the same digestible food elements of 2% tons of corn silage. Therefore, 17 tons of ensilage is equal to 6 4-5 tons of timothy hay, or in other words, I pay for the same food elements, 17 tons of ensilage, $2.50, $42.50; 6 4-5 tons of timothy hay, $10.00, $68.00. Then the food elements in ensilage are the cheapest by $25.00. Average crop timothy hay here IVo tons at $10.00— $15.00. Average crop ensilage, same land, 10 to 14 tons at $2.50 — $35.00. Therefore I produce the same food value on one acre of ensilage (14 tons) as on 4 2-3 acres of timothy hay. I estimate my ensilage at $2.50 per ton as it made 14 tons per acre or $35.00. I know of no other farm or general crop grown in this locality that equals this on $60.00 acre land. I compare it to timothy hay because almost every farmer knows its feeding value. During the winter of 1907-08 I took 5 yearling heifers through with nice growth on 16 lbs. of ensilage per day and only wheat straw for roughage. This winter four two-year-old heifers are going through in fine shape on 20 lbs. of ensilage and a liberal allowance of shredded fodder in morning and timothy hay at night. These heifers mentioned are grouped near center of photograph, — the five cows at right and in the background. My silo is in high part of barn-shed or as some term it, shedded barn lot. Silo is 12x22% feet deep, estimated capacity about 45 tons, 14 men fill it on an average of 7 hours on a 60 rods haul. I have also derived good results in feeding ensilage to my hogs, especially to my Duroc brood sows before farrowing and during suckling. Have, also, fed it to a small flock of each, poultry, sheep and Angora goats' when weather made housing necessary. Since I have fed ensilage it requires only about one-half the rough- age as did before. Respectfully submitted, ^ JOS. C. ELLEN, Albion. 111. VA2 THE BEST INVESTMENT A FARMER EVER MADE. IiN'DTANA Silo Co., Andersojn, Iad. Gentlemen: — This is the fourth season for my silo and I am firmly convinced it is the best paying investment I have ever made. Not only ar« the corn stalks (which contain about one-third of the feed value of the entire crop) saved in this way but a big profit is realized on the stock that is fed the silage. Another point in its favor is that one does not have to farm so heavily and yet be able to winter a greater number of stock which is necessary for the improvement of the land through this section of the country. My silo is 16x24 and is rated at 100 tons capacity. Twelve acres of good corn will fill it and from experience I have found it will winter from 50 to 60 head of stock with the proper amount of roughage and In the spring come out in fine condition. Last year I had a herd of 30 cattle. Part of these I fed silage and clover hay and the rest clover hay and a little corn. When spring came the silage eaters averaged 100 pounds more than the non silage eaters. Cattle then being .5c, my I ■~*^ Feeding Plant and Stock of Jno H. Brosman, Martinsville, ill. gain was $.5.00 per head and if I had fed them all on silage my gain would more than half paid for my silo. If properly fed one will pay for itself in one season. One has to exercise care in feeding silage for stock is so fond of it that they will eat too much. 1 especially feed it to my milch cows and find it to be as great a milk producer as clover hay. It gives winter butter a fine flavor and a golden tint. 1 am feeding it to my horses as a midday feed which gives them a good appetite and keeps them loose which promotes an early shedding of the hair and gives it a fine gloss. My sheep are going through the winter in tip-top condition and I consider it a great feed for ewes that are lambing as it increases the milk supply. My wife even feeds it to her chickens when they cannot get green food and it keeps up the egg production. I have fertilized 20 acres a year since building the silo and before only 10 acres a year. Of course these figures show I am keeping twice as much stock on the same number of farmed acres. I consider my farm has increased three to five dollars per acre since the building of the silo .TOHN H. BROSMAN, Martinsville, III. THE FINEST FEED THIS FARMER EVER TRIED. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. .Tjrp.!\;}««iEjsSiKSS. ■'•,»., -*?.■■. |||W Robert Bruce, New Douglas, III. Dear Sirs: — I purchased an Indiana Silo from your agent last summer and am more than plepsed with it. Ensilage is the finest feed I ever fed. I feed it to calves, sheep and horses with good results, and for milking it can't be beaten. Here is the difference in my milk this win- ter with that of last winter: In December, 1908, my milk brought me $44.64; in December, 1909, |70.55; in Jan- uary, 1909. $37.92; in January, 1910, $76.50; in February, 1909, $29.12; in February, 1910, $71.04; March, 1909, $38.40. I have not got the March milk check yet, but it will be about $75.00. Last winter I fed ground corn and bran and have not fed either this winter. What the Indiana Silo has done for me It will do for others. Yours for success, ROBERT BRUCE, New Douglas, 111. A DIFFERENCE OF $262.18 IN TWELVE MONTHS. Indiana Silo Co., Andek.son, Ind. Gentlemen: — It is the main object of most stockmen and dairymen to cheapen their feeds and at the same time obtain the best results, and by relying upon the experiments of others, together with their own study and experiments. They strive to better their herd, farm and themselves by keeping an account of what is paid in from the herd or farm and what is paid out. They can determine the amount of gain. They also study the difference between producing their sup- plies and purcha.?ing them. Having followed dairying for a number of years I follow the system of accounts. During the spring of 1908 I ordered a 12x28 silo of your agent, erected it over a seven foot pit and filled it during the season with (as an experienced man said) No. 1 silage, putting in about seven acres of corn or about 90 tons of silage. I began feeding 12 milch cows about October 1st, 1908 and through the winter months three additional heifers and a bull. I fed all until May 15th and the milch cows once a day until September 20th. The amount received 1908-09 from 12 cows, creamery statements, $751.05. I paid out for oil meal for 12 cows during winter months, 2 tons at $32.00, making $64.00, leaving a total of $687.05 for the sea- son of 1908-09. Now the season previous, 1907-08, I purchased for 12 cows 10 tons bran at an average price of $26.00 per ton and 2 tons oil meal at $32.00 per ton, making a total expense of $324.00 for season of 1907-08. I re- ceived for the season (creamery statements) $748.87, less expense of feeds, leaving a total of $424.87. This makes a difference between the two seasons of $262.18 in favor of the silo. My summer pasture is woods and mostly dry short grass. Count the silo for me. Yours respectfully, LOUIS BOSS, Milton Junction, Wis. 134 X THE PROPOSITION FRANKLY PUT AND PROVEN. Indiana Silo Co., Andekson, Inu. Gentlemen: — As farmers and stockmen we are working for money. No matter what specific line we pursue, whether feeding for beef, pork, mutton, milk, cheese, or butter, we believe that the man who uses the combination of feeds that give the best results for the least money is the only man who is making the most of his time, brains and money, so far as his business is concerned. I believe of all feeds known silage stands pre-eminent. It fur- nishes bulk for distention, succulence for the appetite and nutrition for strength, growth and production. By the use of the silo for the past six years, I have been able to double the number of animals on my place with only a little more expense for feed than it would require to dry feed one-half the number in the winter season, besides the great convenience of having my feed under cover and right at hand which makes feeding a pleasure. The silos has enabled me to utilize my poor patches of corn in low places and late fields that otherwise would have been frost bitten, and convert it into rich juicy feed, relished by nearly all animals on the farm. It has enabled me to clear my fields of the corn crop in the early fall, for the sowing of wheat or rye, thereby helping me to reduce the spring work to the minimum. It has increased the value of my land, not only by being a per- manent improvement itself, but by furnishing feed which alter being converted into manure is at once in an ideal state to amalgamate with the soil, without containing a live weed seed to harass my future crops. It has enabled me to save the sugar and other nutritious elements of the corn stpJk, representing, according to analysis of our experiment stations, from 35 to 40 per cent of the entire plant which, under any other method yet devised is nearly all waste. It has enabled me to economize storage room for feed. It being possible to store three times the amount of food materials in a silo as in a barn, in either case basing the feeds on the amount of dry matter contained. The use of silage has enabled me to carry my stock through the most trying seasons of the year almost one-half cheaper than by any other method I have ever tried, besides keeping them in the best physical condition; so that they go upon the grass in the spring with- out loss or detrimental effects. By actual monthly tests I have increased the milk flow of my dairy 33 per cent in weight, by the substitution of silage as the base of the ration instead of all hay, besides cutting down the grain part of the ration one-third, and cheapening the ration for cows in full flow five cents per day, making a net average difference between the two methods of feeding of fifteen cents a day per cow. On a herd of twenty cows this would figure three dollars, ninety dol- lars per month, five, hundred and forty dollars in six months which would be two fair, sized silos. I have demonstrated this to my own satisfaction and can prove it to anyone else. " O. O. BREWBAKER, Spring Hill, Iowa. SILAGE GOOD FOR ALL KINDS OF STOCK. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In regard to the profit in the silo we are pretty well pleased with the results. On account of the wet season we were com- pelled to plant our ensilage corn the 11th day of .Tune. The corn was very tender and from ten to twelve feet high. On the 25th day of August there came a flood and swept the corn fiat and it looked like it had been rolled with a roller. If it had not been for the silo it would have been almost a total Joss. We cut the corn the latter part of September. We opened the silo the 17th day of November. We found about eight inches spoiled on top, but the rest kept fine. We have been feeding four horses, four cows, twelve head of hogs, twenty-five breeding ewes, and a flock of poultry. We find it fine for all kind of stock. The hogs expect their ensilage as much as they do their corn and slop. We put about three and one-half acres in the silo and it took about half what it would if we did not have the silo. We got eggs all winter and this we owe to the ensilage. We think that every man, though he has but a small farm, should have a silo. Well, wishing you excellent success in the silo business, I remain as ever, your respectful friend, HARVEY B. BRIGHT, Marengo, Ohio. INCREASED PROFIT ON TEN ACRES PAID FOR SILO IN A YEAR. Ini>ia.\a Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — How to get the most out of the crop is a problem that has been solved by the silo. The old way of taking care of crops must give way to the more modern way of siloing. Just as sure as the cradle gave way for the reaper and the hoe for the riding cultivator, just as sure and as slow will the old and wasteful way of feeding and wasting of the crop give way to the silo. Ten acres of good field corn will make 100 tons of ensilage worth four dollars per ton or $400.00 for the 10 acres. Ten acres of good i'leld corn handled in the old way will make 500 bushels of corn worth 45c per bushel or ?225.00. It will not cost any more to put ten acres of corn in the silo than it will to husk and market the corn. What is true of corn is also true with clover, alfalfa, oats and peas. The silo is the place for it. Seventeen years ago I started in the dairy business. In the sum- mer I raised my crops between milking times, working about 22 hours out of the 24 and in winter and fall in mud, sleet or snow I was haul- ing in and harvesting the crop just like my neighbor dairymen all around me. wasting a':out one third in the operation. Finally I let somebody talk me into buying a silo. I had not made any money the first few years and bought the first silo on payments. After I had the first silo up one year I bought another for cash. Now I have four silos aiid am doing fine, but if I was to do without the silo I would quit business. We now put our crops in the silo in summer and fall while the days are long and when bad weather comes we have all the feed under roof. Do not have to get out in the weather and can do with less help and less horses. A man with a silo can sell milk for 10c per gallon and make as much money as the man without a silo can selling at 15c per gallon. The silo cheapens the production of milk one-third. Ensilage bet- ters the quality of milk and butter and makes it more saleable on account of its superior color. Ensilage milk in winter has the appearance of grass milk. The man who has a silo full of ensilage, whether it be corn, clover, alfalfa, oats and peas, wheat or rye, need not fear droughts of summer of the inclemency of winter. He has the pasture all the time. He is fixed. C M. BOTTEMA, Indianapolis, Ind. 137 ORNAMENTAL AS WELL AS USEFUL. Indiana Silo Co., Axdeesox, Ind. Gentlemen: — Two years ago I purchased of your agent one of your silos, and will give you a few plain facts in regard to the benefit it has been to me. I wish to say that since I purchased mine four of my neighbors, who were not in favor of a silo, having resisted all persuasion from different agents, but upon their investigation and observation of results from the use of mine the first year, each purchased one for their own use. I consider that a very good ad. for the silo. The first year I found upon close figuring that I paid for my silo by the difference in feed in that year and the year previous, my stock requiring very little grain, beside the silage. I found that I did not require to feed my milch cows only about one-half as much grain as the year previous, without a silo, and the milk yield was greater. I find after using the silo two years, there is nothing to take its place. There is no waste and 1 can care for the stock in about half the time, re- quiring no heavy lifting or working out in stormy weather. The cost of tilling my silo was no more than caring lor the corn in the ordinary way and it is all dane about a day and a half. The fields are clear for fall plowing and (nic has that contented feeling that all is safe for winter use. I have an 8(1 acre farm and I am thinking of erecting another silo next fall for the u-e oi my stock in summer. I can then keep 25 milk cows and know that I can keep them well. I can recommend the Indiana silo to be all and more than it is represented. I found no trouble in erecting it myself, every piece fit- ting together perfectly and after two years of use it looks as well as when first put up. No signs of decay. It is an ornament to my farm buildings. I have had many come in and ask me the cost of it and the profit to me which I am always pleased to tell and though I am a man of few words I am alwavs glad to pass a good thing along. M. ANDERSON, Elkhorn, Wis. SILAGE INCREASES A COW'S BUTTER OUTPUT OVER FORTY POUNDS A YEAR. Lndiana Silo Co., Axderson, Ini>. Gentlemen: — In regard to feeding ensilage to dairy cows I will give a statement of what I have experienced in using a silo. I am now feeding ensilage the second winter. We are running a dairy of 17 cows at present. Now before we had a silo we averaged about 198 pounds of butter to the cow a year, by feeding ground or crushed corn during the winter and also oil meal and bran the year around. Now since I am feeding ensilage I feed oil meal and bran the same as before, but no other chop of any kind and I can now figure up an average of about 240 pounds of butter to each cow per year, which will leave a profit to the silo of 42 pounds of butter to each cow, be- sides saving of grinding corn and also taking less rough feed. I purchased an Indiana Cypress Silo, 14x26, in 1908. Four and a half acres of good corn will fill it. I feel as though a good silo will pay for itself in two reasons. I would not want to run a dairy without a silo. Respectfully, C. S. BEACHY. Plain City, Ohio. FEEDING UNREASONABLE WITHOUT SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Having lived in a neighborhood lor some years where there were a number of silos and having fed cattle for the same period without proper success, concluded to buy a silo. After investigating all makes and kinds in the summer of 1909 we made up our minds to erect one and purchased the same of the Indiana Silo Co, which we then believed to be the best and have not changed our minds. The silo having arrived on the ground we had it erected at very little cost in the last days of August. Everything so far to our entire satisfaction. Having purchased a Blizzard cutter about the middle of Septem- ber we commenced to fill the silo which was a very small job compared with the amount of feed put in the same. Think of it, twenty-five acres or more of very heavy corn was put in that silo all in tangible and fine condition to make those one hundred and twenty-five calves' mouths water in those cold days to come from January 1st, 1910, and on. The calves we propose to talk about are spring and summer calves of 1909 and we propose to make baby beef of them as stated below. We put the above amount of calves on this feed about the 26th day of December, 1909, with a ration of silage, crushed corn and cotton seed meal and have fed them all the sila.ce they would eat since that time and at this writing have fed about half of the silage and will have plenty to finish the calves about the first of June. Will say our silo Bartlett Bros'. Cypress Silo. is 20x30 feet, made of Cypress. As we did not weigh those calves when we first put them on feed and have not done so since cannot give actual figures as to their gain but to say they have done well would be expressing the truth and a good thing in mild terms. These calves are the talk of the community and at all times have letters from commission men from all the leading markets as to when they will be ready to sell. We made up our minds that to feed cattle without a silo would be about as unreasonable as to feed without corn. Another important question to take into consideration in using the silo is this, you are liable to harvest your corn crop at a time in the year that you haven't much to do on the farm, giving you the finest chance on earth to sow the ground in wheat, and to think of the amount of cold fingers that are avoided by putting that corn crop there ready to feed in a nut shell. The truth of the matter all told, there is nothing on the farm equal to a silo and we believe that one made by the Indiana Silo Company is as good as the best. Gentlemen, wishing you success in the manufacture and sale of your silos, we are, very respectfully, BARTLETT BROS , Per J. A. Bartlett, Lewisvil'.e, Ind. HAS TWO NOW AND WILL BUY A THIRD. Indiana Silo Co., Am)i:rson, Lnd. Gentlemen: — In reply to your request to give an exact account of what I am doing with my Indiana Silo, I filled it last year from which I fattened 28 head of grown cattle. Made them ready for the butcher which gave me a net profit of $4.50.00 and I am feeding 2.5 cattle this year that I am sure will make equally as much money as last year. I never had an> damaged silage. The only trouble I have is that I don't have enough silage to feed e\erything. I already have two silos and count on buying the third one this season. I don't see how any farmer can afford to be without one. Please send me your catalog and give me your best prices. I think there can be as many as a carload sold here this season. I want one the same size I bought from you before, 12x30. Let me hear from you soon. Yours respectfully, J. H. BENNETT, Burlington, W. Va. AN ESSENTIAL THING ON A FARM. Lmjana Silo Co., Axdersox, Ixd. Gentlemen: — In reply to your request asking me to write my experi- ence with your silo, I have used a. silo for several years for nearly all kinds of stock. I have fed cattle with good results for fat cattle. I feed it with corn. I fed twenty-one head last winter. They went to market fat, and I also fed one hundred head of sheep. I gave them all they would eat with a little shell corn and some clover hay. T'hey got very fat. It didn't require very much corn. For cows there is no better feed. They give a good flow of milk on it and it keeps them in good condition, and for calves there is no better feed. I have been feeding calves for several years, from fifteen to twenty every winter. They grow and do fine on it without any other grain. For sows that are going to farrow in the spring it is an excellent feed. It keeps them loose and in good shape. We feed our horses some. They relish it and it keeps them in good shape. Chickens do well on it. "\A^e feed our hens and we got eggs all winter. I think it is one of the essential things for a farmer to have. I think we cannot afford to feed without a silo. It is a very cheap feed and always ready and the cost to put it in is very small. I have never fed it alone, therefore, I can't give any statistics as to weight, but I have alwavs fed it with good results. Respectfully, GEORGE BARR, Amanda, Ohio. A LIFE TIME HELP PAYS FOR ITSELF IN ONE YEAR. Indiana Silo Co., Andeesox, Ind. Gentlemen: — A silo is almost a necessity to a successful dairyman, for if a dairyman is feeding hay or dry fodder without silage he must feed a large quantity of mill feed to produce milk, but if he is feeding silage he does not have to feed so much mill feed, because of the corn and other food elements in the silage. There is as much nutritive value in good silage as there is in green fodder and makes as good a milk producer as green grass which is the best milk producer there is. When fodder is left in the shock to be fed in the winter only about half of it is all eaten by the cows. Even dry fodder if dampened with water as it is tramped in the silo will make almost as good silage as green fodder. Eight acres of good corn will make 100 tons of silage. Allow- ing $20.00 for plowing, |12.00 for harrowing, §25.00 for cultivating. $3.00 for seed and 1-50.00 for putting it into the silo it would cost SllO.OO for 100 tons of silage or SI. 10 a ton, and feeding 40 pounds a day to a cow 100 tons would feed 25 cows for 200 days or about sis months. A little hay should be fed once a day with the silage. If these eight acres were to produce 14 tons of clover hay and if 10 pounds were fed to a cow in a day it would last 25 cows for 112 days or nearly four months, and since a good crop of clover hay is seldom grown more than once in three years, clover hay would have to be bought and would cost about S2S0.00 for the 14 tons. This makes a difference of $70.00 which, together with the cost of hay for the other two months and the extra amount of mill feed used when feeding hay, would more than pay for an Indiana Silo, which o-^-ing to its proven superiority in material and structure will last a lifetime. Yours truly, J. W. BOYD, East Liverpool, Ohio. SILAGE IS THE BEST SUBSTITUTE FOR GREEN FOOD. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson. Ind. Gentlemen: — I am unable to give you exact figures but am safe in saying that I saved over $200.00, or the price of the silo in one year. Mr. Detrich claims that ensilage is as near June pasture as any- thing you can get. He ought to know as he has kept 20 cows on 15 acres. He has made a great deal of money from his cows and he presents eveiwthing from a practical viewpoint of a farmer whose chief interest is to make money and to make a great deal of it from his land, while preserving the land. I raised a number of pigs this winter on less grain than ever be- fore, by the aid of ensilage. It is one of the greatest feeds for sheep that has ever been grown on a farm, and as to wintering horses, it cannot be excelled. I kept two colts this winter principally on ensilage and now they are slick and glossy as thougii they had been on pasture. The silo is still in its infancy as a beef-maker but when its useful- ness is fully realized it will be considered as essential to beef produc- tion as it now is to milk production. Chemists tell us that 70 per cent of the good of the corn stalk is below the ear. If this be true, how are we going to get value received out of the fodder if we don't use the silo? Silage is the best known substitute for natural green feed. The proceeds of making silage adds nothing in the way of food elements and produces practically no chemical change. It does take the crop when it possesses the greatest amount of digestible nutrients and preserves it in that condition. The fermentation which takes place 141 adds a relish which is greatly appreciated by cattle and sheep. Silage is a palatable green food supplied at a time of the year when it can not be economically supplied in any other form. A silo may be constructed of stone, brick, cement or building tile. At present these materials are more expensive than wood. From my own experience and what I have learned from others through agricul- tural papers, will say to build a round stave silo for the following reasons: It should be strong to resist the enormous pressure of the silage, air tight when erected, convenient in construction, free from internal projections and easy to set up. Some farmers eke out a mere existence, they do not realize what nature has in store for them by putting it into practice. It reminds me of the story of the farmer at Institute. He heard the lecturers talk about building silos, feeding cows ensilage, so he was telling his good wife that he was going to build a "cyclone" and feed his cows "mucilage." Condensing valuation of land and price of concentrates, the silo is the most economical investment a farmer can make. M. C. BANKS, Beaver Falls, Pa. TWO COWS CAN BE KEPT WHERE ONE WAS KEPT BEFORE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — 1 bought an Indiana Silo ol your agent in 1908 and find it a paying investment on my small farm of 51 acres. The man without a silo in this time of expensive commercial feeds is certainly handicapped in competition with the man with the silo. There is no longer a question in my mind or in the minds of dairymen and cattle raisers, or any man that has given the question thought, about the merits and cheapness of silage as a feed both for dairy cows and young stock. There is nothing on which cattle or young stock will thrive and look so well as well kept silage. It also aids to keep up the fer- tility of the farm. Whoever makes two blades of grass grow where but one grew before is a benefactor to mankind. A silo makes it possible to keep two cows where but one was kept before and who would not gladly double his income. The advantage of silage consists not only in its cheapness but from the fact that it provides a most succulent feed with the least possible waste. There is also a marked difference in cows fed silage and cows not fed silage. My herd of six cows from November 1st, 1907, to November 1st, 1908, returned $420.84 or $70.14 for each cow. These cows were fed no silage. From November 1st, 1908, to No- vember 1st, 1909, my herd of eight cows returned $766.41 or an aver- age of $9.5.80 per cow. These cows were fed silage eleven months. These were the cows that were in the previous herd but two cows were added. T!te herd consists of mixed breed and Holstein grades, bred to freshen fall and spring. Thus it will be noticed that the silage fed cows income was $153.96 (counting six cows) more than the pre- vious year and having the returns of two extra cows, besides having eight head of young cattle that are in nice thrifty growing condition being fed on silage. In the fall of 1908 I put five acres in my silo. It lacked five feet of being full. In the fall of 1909 three and one-half acres filled it jammed full. Thus I conclude that the silo has paid for itself the first year. Could I expect any more? Yours truly, D. A. BURKHOLDER, Waseon, Ohio. 142 PROFITS FROM AN INDIANA SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen:— In the summer of 1906 we erected an Indiana Silo. As it was one of the first silos in the locality there was more or less questioning among our doubting neighbors as to the advisability of such a course. Some even remarked that they would hate to put so much feed in there and risk losing it. But it didn't take unto itself wings and fly away, neither did it spoil. In fact the process of siloing rather improved th« quality of the feed. Many consider the silo to be an expensive building, a luxury only to be afforded by the wealthy, but those who have had experience will invariably say that more feed can be preserved in better shape, and at far less cost, than with any other form of farm building. Corn is unquestionably the most profitable of our general farm crops, and it can be made vastly more profitable by the use of the silo. Forty per cent of the feeding value of the corn plant is in the stalk. What a waste to leave it standing in the field. Even when the fodder is cut and shocked there is considerable loss from weathering. The Colorado Experiment Station found by actual experiments that it lost from thirty-one to thirty-five per cent of its feeding value. We would estimate that in this locality the waste would be still greater, espe- Mapledale Farm, H. J. Dickinson, Osage, Iowa. cially when the shocks are left in the field part or all of the winter. With the silo, however, the loss is almost unnoticeable, as it seldom ex- ceeds five per cent of the total crop. We consider it to be less work to fill the silo than to husk the corn and put up the dry fodder, and then the silage is much easier to feed. The silo owner can but pity his unfortunate non-silo neighbor who must rise early and hie himself out to the field on a cold morning to chop a few frozen corn stalks from the snow bank. The cost of filling a silo is seventy-five cents to one dollar per ton, when the ma- chinery and help is hired, but if one is fortunate enough to own a cutter and engine, the only expense is a few cents for gasoline. Silage is uniform in quality throughout the entire winter. It is as succulent as June pasture and is relished by all classes of farm stock, especially dairy cattle. By the use of the Indiana Silo we now keep twelve cows with a higher average yield of dairy products, on the same acreage that formerly provided sustenance for but six. It has been said "Whoever makes two blades of grass grow where but one grew before is a benefactor to mankind." Estimate, if you can, the countless mil- lions of wealth that would pour into the coffers of the country if every farmer in the land owned a silo. H. J. DICKINSON, Osage, la. SOUND AS EVER AFTER FOUR YEARS. Indiana Silo Co., Andekson, Ind. Dear Sirs:— I purchased a silo from you four years ago, and will say I am well pleased with it. I consider it one of the best investments I have made in my life. There are a lot of silos in this neighborhood, but I know mine is the best and, also, the cheapest of them all and it freezes the least of any one of them, too, and the ensilage keeps fine right to the staves. No waste whatever in the four years I have had it and the staves and everything is just as sound and good as the day they were put up so they will last for many years and as to the money it has made me every year I cannot say just on the dollars and cents, but the first year I had it I got more out of my herd of 10 cows over the year before, when I did not have a silo, than my silo cost me, so I guess it is a money-maker alright, so I heartily recommend it to all who want a silo and I have been recommending it to my neighbors, of which you will be aware by all the orders you will get from this locality. This winter I know five orders are booked and more are sure to follow be- fore spring. Wishing you success in your business, I remain, yours truly, GILBERT M. DAHLEN, Ogdensburg, Wis. DAIRY MAN CAN'T DO WITHOUT A SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I put up a silo in September in the autumn of 1906. I was late getting it but got it filled that year, my corn being pretty ripe, but made good silage. I have never had any trouble with silage spoiling, never more than 2 or 3 inches on top a little mouldy. The dairyman cannot afford to do without it on account of the saving of grain feed it enables him to make. The succulence of the feed keeps the cows in good con- dition, the palatability of it gives them a good appetite and the rich- ness of it does away with the necessity of buying so much concentrated teed stuffs. My experience in feeding silage proved that cue can keep his cows in better flow of milk on a ration of silage with from 4 to 6 pounds of grain per day than he can with dry feed or dry feed cut and mixed with from 8 to 10 pounds of grain. I am at present feeding 11 cows and an increase of f> pounds per day per cow would mean an increase of at least 70 cents a day at the present prices of feed and in six months it would amount to $126.00 or the entire cost of my silo, which is 12 ft. by 24 ft. My experience has been that putting corn in the silo was the cheapest means of gathering the corn crop, besides putting it away in such a condition as to get all of the food value out of it. The cost of filling the silo will, of course, depend on how far you have to haul your corn and the available help. I own my own cutter, but hire an engine and other help but it hasn't cost me more than from $12 to $15 to fill mine, holding about 50 tons. It has been cheaper than shredding corn for me, but of course the cost of help and such like will vary with local conditions, and of course the cheaper you get your corn crop raised the cheaper feed you have, but after it is raised there is no question but what it is not only the best but the cheapest way of saving your feed in good condition. I am speaking altogether of corn silage as I have never tried any other kind myself. Yours truly, JOHN J. DUNBAR, Osgood, Ind. FACTS AND FIGURES FROM FOUR YEARS' EXPERIENCE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I will give a few figures and say a few words in regard to feeding silage. I have been feeding and handling fat cattle for more than thirty-five years and I have made the business a success, financially. All farmers will not make a success feed- ing cattle for profit. TTiere is a large per cent, of farmers that would make more money if they sold their grain instead of feeding it to cattle. The profits on feeding stock for a period of, say, ten years, are not as great as the farmer and city man who never feed stock, might think. A man to feed or handle stock suc- cessfully, must have a liking for the business, and he must be, or soon learn to be, a good judge of stock, keep informed on the markets and know when the stock is finished. The man that does not know the quality or the finish of his stock will ship his cattle to market thinking he will get the top quotations given in his mar- ket paper, if he should have one. But when he sees the return of what they sold tor he will be so dispirited that he will condemn the commission man and the man who bought them and swear that he will never ship to them again. But the man who is a judge of good cattle and knows when his stock is finished, will not miss very much the amount he expected. Most any farmer can judge a hog as to it being fat, but there are very few who can judge a bullock. A man raising cattle should size up his shed room, decide about how much grain he wants to feed and in what market he expects to sell. Then buy the weight to start on that when finished will suit his market best, and don't fail to sell as close to the feeding lot as you possibly can, for all small feeders who sell their cattle at home derive more re- turns from them than those that ship. There are times when the feeder is obliged to ship. From my experience in handliiir and feeding cattle I find that it re- quires shelter, plenty of bedding, and feed troughs and clean feed twice a day. Don't allow strangers in your feed lot unless the regular feeder is with them. When the cattle have been fed and watered and have laid down, they should not be disturbed until thev 145 o get up on their own accord. The better the bed, the more they will lio down; the result being that they will take on greater weight. Never allow your cattle to become excited. If you do, you will lose more than you gain. Kill the dogs and keep the visitors out. Some years ago two of our cattle men in this county built square silos of stone and concrete. I was very well acquainted with both of these gentlemen and I kept a close eye on the results of these silos, one for teed for fat cattle, and the other for dairy purposes, and they did not prove successful. They cut their corn too green, and their silo being square, it let the air in at the corners and it became sour, and to make it worse, they opened it at the bottom and the results were the cattle did not do any good. So I came lo the conclusion that a silo would not do. After a few more years rolled around the silo fever raised again. I got the fever and I visited several farms where there were round silos and they were all giving good satisfaction, so I came to the conclusion that I would buy one. I visited both Ohio and Indiana firms and I concluded that the Indiana Silo Company built the best silo on the market. 1 made a trip over to Anderson, Indiana, and went up to the office and made my wants known and what I was there for. I was shown through their factory and then I was asked to take a drive through the country and see some of their silos that were built for several years and I was surprised to see how well the wood was preserved, apparently as good as they were the day they were built, so I bought one of the Indiana Silo Company, Sep- tember, 1906 (16x30), and had it built at the farm I live on. I was so well pleased with the gentlemen of the firm and with the silo that in 1907 1 bought another (16x30), and put it on a farm three miles away. I never met a more honorable set of gentlemen to do business with in my life than the Indiana Silo firrn. I expect to build a silo on each farm this , summer. I think every farm ought to have a silo of some size on it. I am very sorry I did not have silos years ago. Just think what ten acres of corn will do bv putting it into a silo, on an average of about 100 tons of good feed, and make more money than any ten acres of hay that ever grew. What a shame it is to burn up the stalks when you can make so much use of them! Stalks are now, as bran and cotton seed was a good many years ago. Run the bran through the selves and burn the cotton seed. Is it any wonder that the boy leaves his country home, when he is sent out on a cold winter day to the field with a team that is trying to break their necks to get away out of the cold to get a load of corn fodder? Shovel the snow off; get a pick to dig the ends loose out of frozen ground and finally get it onto the wagon and start for home with hardly enough feed to keep the cows from starving over night. Do the same thing over the next day; and that is not all: when he comes to hauling out the manure and those stalks, if he doesn't say cuss words he is a bird. The man with the silo has put his corn fodder in when the days are long and warjn and wlien it is a pleasure to feed the stock and see how they relish i^heir feed. I have fed cattle many different kinds of feed and in diffeivnt ways; corn on the ear chopped up; shelled corn; corn meal; corn and cob; ground; corn meal cooked into a slop, cattle tied up; malt; bailey sprouts; bran and beet pulp; cotton seed meal; cotton seed hulls and silage; clover; alfalfa; oats and timothy hay; corn fodder run through cutter, shredded and whole. If there is a man who can show me any way that he can produce more fat or growth out of corn or hay than he can through a silo, I wish he would get on the band wagon and let us hear from him. A man who has a silo and a lot of cattle on hands doesn't have to fear the dry summers when the grass is burned up and is compelled to put his cattle on dry weather market. He can hold to them just as long as he wants to. I have come to the conclusion that we can realize more out of summer silo than to keep our land in blue grass. What would ten acres of blue grass produce to ten acres of corn fodder put in silos? You must not lose sight of the fact that it takes about 33 per cent, more head of stock today to supplj' the demands than it did twenty years ago, the difference being in weight then and now. Just as long as the demand is so strong for baby meat, as they call it, it will keep us farmers busy to raise enough to supply the demand. I have read in different farm papers where men claimed that they have made a gain of three and one-half pounds per day on cattle, on dry feed in the winter season. I never have been able to make such gains on a lot of cattle in winter feeding. The same gentlemen claim they can make a hundred pounds of pork with eight bushels of corn and water, winter feeding. My experience has been, with good sleeping quarters and cement floors to feed on and a good grade of hogs to start with, it requires about eleven to twelve bushels of corn to produce one hundred pounds of pork. I never have been fortunate enough to own a cow that produced ten pounds of butter fil'ty-two weeks in the year, or a chicken that laid 365 eggs in twelve months. Now I want to say to the young man, don't give up the farm. It never looked better to me than it does now. Go to work. Take the bull by the horns and make up your mind that you are going to own a good farm some day. Build a silo. Have up-to-date implements and you will have less hours to work in a period of twelve months than any other business, and have the most independent and the best living on earth. In my opinion a man building a silo, it is far better to build two small ones (12x24), than to build one large one. The follov/ing figures show the results I have obtained by silo feed- ing. Observe that all of my cattle are of light weight: FIRST YEAR FEEDING, 1907. Silo No. 1, September 4th, 1906, bought f the Indiana Silo Company one silo, 16x30. I had all of my land rented on shares and the tenant was to deliver my half of grain on the car. Instead of delivering it on the car he put my half, every other twenty rows, to the silo, and when he gathered his half he weighed it as gathered, and that is the way I get the correct number of bushels of corn in the silo. September 15, 1906, commenced filling silo. I furnished engine and cutter; cost $ 25.00 December 20, I bought in Evansville, Tenn., 41 steers. very common mountain cattle, 26,935 lbs., 21/2 cts. 637.37 Freight on same 61 .75 December 24, I bought in Cincinnati Stock Yards 20 common Southern cattle, 14,650 lbs., 31/2 cts 512,75 I turned these cattle to a straw pile until January 1st, 1907, and then I commenced feeding silage lightly for about twenty days. Put in silo 16 acres of field corn, 800 bu, at 40c 320.00 Ground corn and cob, 691 bu., 45c per bu 310.95 Cotton Seed Meal, 4,500 lbs., ?30.00 per ton 67.50 One straw pile 25.00 Insurance ^-^^ 147 interest 30.00 Salt 1.00 Labor for feeding cattle 40.00 April 5, iyu7, weight of 61 cattle at shipping station, 58.130 lbs. Sold in Cincinnati Stock Yards. Freight, yardage and commission 89.00 Hay, 8 ton 64.00 Total $2,187.32 April, sold on a bad market, 56,030 lbs., in Cincinnati Stock Yards, $4-70 to $5.00 $2,706.85 Manure 120.00 Net gain on hogs following cattle, 3,100 lbs., sold for $6.80 210.80 Total $3,037.65 Net profit $ 850.3S SECOND YEAR FEEDING, 1908. Silo No. 1. Silo was filled the same as first year by tenant, September 20, 1907, Filling silo, cost of engine and cutter $ 25.00 Dec. 20th, bought in Chicago, full of water, 30 grade Polled Angus steers, 25,060 lbs., at $3.85, and six, 4,040 lbs., at $3.75 1,116.31 Freight 42.20 Turn the 36 cattle on stalks until Jan. 1, 1908; com- menced feeding silage lightly for 15 days. Jan. 30, bought at home 4 steers, 3,530 lbs., iYzC 158,85 Put in silo, 750 bu. of corn at 45c 337.50 Ground corn and cob, 432 bu., at 55c 229 35 Four tons of cotton seed meal, $28.00 per ton 112.00 Cotton hulls, 8,895 lbs., at $8.75 per ton 38.90 Eight tons of mixed hay at $9.00 per ton 72.00 Straw pile 30.00 salt 1.10 interest 25.00 Labor for feeding 40.00 March 10 one steer died, 1,000 lbs May 7, 1908, cattle weighed at station of shipment, 42,230 lbs. May 7th, freight, commission and yardage on 39 cattle. G5.06 $2,293.27 1908. May 8, sold Cincinnati Stock Yards 40,630 lbs. for $6.66 and $6.75 , $2,716.50 Manure, 440 loads 120.50 $2,836.50 Jan. 1, bought .56 shoats to follow cattle, 9,425 lbs., 1^/4 cts 400.56 Fed the hogs 446 bu. of corn, at 48c per bu 223.68 $ 624.24 April 6th, sold the 56 hogs, 15,050 lbs., at $6.10 918.05 Net profit on cattle and hogs | 827.04 I would not have fed the cattle without the hogs and I would not have fed the hogs without the cattle. 148 THIRD YEAR OF FEEDING, 1909. Silo No. 1. Silo filled as before. Cost of engine and cutter $ 25.00 Dec. 13, bought in Chicago, 30 steers, 23,490 lbs., 414c a pound 998.32 Freight 35.06 Jan. 2, bought in Cincinnati Stock Yards, 14 steers 11,160 lbs., at $4.55 507.78 Jan. 5 commenced feeding silage. The cattle were Durham of fair grade. Put in silo 20 acres of corn, very poor, 460 bu, at 60c. . . 276.00 Ground corn and cob, 304 bu., eSVoC to 70c a bu 197.60 Cotton seed meal, 27,400 lbs, $28.00 per ton 383.60 Hay, clover, 16,280 lbs., $10.00 per ton 81.37 Straw pile 25.00 Salt 1.10 Interest 24.00 Insurance 2.50 Labor 40.00 $2,597.33 1909. April 20, sold the above 44 cattle, 3-mile drive, 47,335 lbs., at $6.00 and $6.10 $2,887.00 Manure 110.00 $2,997.80 Jan. 20, bought 95 head of pigs, 7,860 lbs $ 345.55 Mill feed, 4,000 lbs., $28.00 per ton 56.00 Fed hogs 786 bu of corn, at 601/2 to 70c, shelled 466.30 $ 867.85 1908. March 19, sold 15 hogs, 1,185 lbs., at $6.00 per cwt $ 71.10 April 30, sold 78 hogs, 15,000 lbs., at $7.30 per cwt 1,160.70 $1,231.80 Two hogs died. Net ptofit $ 764.42 FOURTH YEAR FEEDING, 1910. Silo No. 1. 1910. Jan. 1, bought in Chicago, 61 head of graded Durham steers; com- menced feeding silage slowly for about 15 days. Sixty-one cattle, weight 39,630 ibs., at $4.15 $1,644.65 J^Yeight 60.00 Put in silo 600 bu. of corn; fed 800 bu. of ground corn and cob with silage, 1,400 bu., at 60c 840.00 Fed 5 tons of cotton seed meal, $32.00 per ton 160.00 6,570 lbs. of cotton hulls, at $9.75 per ton 31.20 Cost of filling silo 25.00 Salt 2.20 insurance 3.00 Straw pile ^^-^^ Hay 10 tons of poor mixed 80.00 Interest 30.00 Labor for feeding cattle 40.00 $2,946.05 149 1910. April 2'6, sold the 61 cattle, 3y2-miles drive to where they were weighed; weight, 53,200 lbs., at $7.05 per lb $3,750.60 aOO loads of manure 100.00 |3,850.60 1909. Dec. 20, bought 85 pigs to follow cattle, 5,000 lbs $ 374.00 Fed 550 bu. of corn, at 60c per bu 330.00 | 704.00 March 31st, sold 22 hogs, 4,695 lbs., for $11.00 $ 516.45 April 26th, turned 39 on grass, 5,5.'^0 lbs., worth $9.00. . 377.70 | 894.15 $3,850.60 2,946.05 $ 904.55 192.15 $1,096.70 FIRST YEAR FEEDING, 1908. Silo No. 2. Silo No. 2, located two and one half miles from my home. Silo filled by tenants as Silo No. 1. Cost for engine and cutter $ 30.00 Dec. 20, 1907, bought in Chicago 31 Holsteiu steers, 27.400 lbs., at 3V3C 959.00 Freight 38.36 Turn above cattle on stalks until Jan. 10, and com menced teedmg from silo Jan. 10 6.40 Put in silo 550 bu. of corn, at 50c per bu 275.00 Fed ground corn, 400 bu., at 50c per bu 200.00 Four tons of cotton seed meal, $28.00 per ton 112.00 5,500 lbs. of cotton hulls, $8.00 per ton 22.00 Straw, labor, interest, salt and labor of feeding 80.00 $1,722.76 April 1, 1908,sold the 31 cattle, 33,120 lbs., at 614c $2,070.00 Manure 80.00 $2,150.00 Hogs followed cattle turned on grass without weigh- ing, profit, about 120.00 June 15, 1908, filled silo with green clover hay, and I bought on Feb. 28, 1909, in Chicago, 28 head of springers and fed them the clover silage. I have never seen cattle do as well in my life as they did on that clover silage. If a man wants to or likes to handle springers, it is the sure money maker. My cows came fresh the last half of April and the first half of May and I sold them for $60.00 and $75.00 a head. 160 THIRD YEAR FEEDING. Silo No. 2. Filled by tenants. Cost of engine and cutter $ 30.00 1909. Dec. 16, bought in Chicago, very common lot of cattle, 40 steers, 32,300 lbs., at $3.30 1,065.90 Dec. 16, bought in Chicago, very common lot of cattle, y steers, 6,622 lbs., at 3.60 238.45 Freight 60.15 Put these cattle on grass until Jan. 10, then opened silo and corn. Put in shelled corn, 500 bu 300.00 Ground corn and cob, 461 bu 276.70 Five and a half tons of cotton seed meal, $32.00 per ton. 176.00 Eight tons of weedy timothy 64.00 Labor 40.00 Insurance 25.00 Salt 1.10 $2,277.30 March 19. 1910, sold 49 cattle, 45,370 lbs., at 6%c $3,062.47 Dec. 23, 1909, bought 40 Southern pigs, 2,570 lbs., at $7.63 196.10 January, 1910, 25 head of pigs died. May 2, sold the last 15 pigs, 2,470 lbs., at 914c 228.47 Net profit $ 817.54 Trusting this will be of some value to you and others, I remain yours very truly, J. A. SLADE, Hamilton, O. FIRST YEARS' EXPERIENCE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Dear Sirs: — I use one of your silos and am always ready, and ever have been, to give a reason for the faith that I have regarding the excel- lence of silos for economical and labor saving qualities. What I am going to tell you I have already told to scores of farmers who have come to me to know personally what I had to say in their favor. This is what I had to say, and it was my first year's experience: One of my fields of corn contained thirty acres. Thirteen acres of that field I cut and filled a silo 16x30. The remainder of the field, 17 acres, was cut and shocked the usual way. The 17 acres was fed first to a bunch of steers and seven cows. When the shocks were finished we used the silage and fed it to the same bunch of steers and the same cows with this result, that the 13 acres of silage lasted fully twice as long as the 17 acres of shocks, and when the steers were sold on the Chicago market they were equal in flesh to any steers I ever fed and costing less labor and less high-priced feed. Cattle eat very little hay when fed good silage. That was my first year's experience and the next year I built a second silo and the outlook with me for a third silo is not impossible. Yours truly, J- F. HANNAY, Grinnell, Iowa. COULDN'T RUN A FARM WITHOUT A SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — Yours of the 14tli inst. received soon after date. On account of sickness in the family, hence this delay. Now to give the exact dollars and cents I derive through the silo is almost impossible from the fact that I feed silage to most every- thing on the place for it is a pleasure to me to see stock eat it. This is my third sea.son to feed out of silo. I would not want to run a farm any more without a silo for I keep and feed as much stock on my forty acres as most other farmers do on eighty or one hundred acres in this part of the country for others have told me the same. I am safe in saying I realize $350.00 or $400.00 a year more than I would if I had no silo. I have had men to say to me, "I don't see how you can keep so much stock so good as you do on forty acres," which I could not do if it were not for my silo. I have no photo of my buildings nor stock to help you in that line. Yours truly, R. D. BARNHILL, Columbia City, Ind. AN ACRE OF CORN IN SILAGE WILL FEED ONE COW A YEAR. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen- — I hni.e been using one of your silos for six years. It is still in goon condition. I consider it the best investment I ever made. One acre of good corn will make ten tons of silage which will feed a cow one year, a bushel and one-half twice a day. My cows are well fed on a good digestible food and I have never had a cow that did not like silage. I raise this feed on one acre, otherwise it would take two acres of corn, from one to two acres of hay and two acres of pasture. I figure that I am saving at least four acres of my land. Putting it at ten dollars an acre I am saving $40.00 on one cow's feed. My silo holds 80 tons. I feed 8 cows one year you can see that I am saving 8x40, which is $320.00. There is no question, can we afford a silo? We cannot afford to do without a silo. I would rather have the Indiana Silo than any I have ever seen. Y(uirs very truly, O. E. BUCKNELL, Madison, Ind. CATTLE GROW IN WINTER AS WELL AS IN SUMMER. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In ]908 I purchased one of your lGx30 silos from Mr, Hargrove, Des Moines, la., and am very much pleased with the deal, both construction and results and otherwise. I have a small 160 acre farm and before I got the silo I could keep on an average of from 1') to 20 head of cattle besides some hogs and horses, enough to work the farm and those few cattle were not fed to a profit by far. Now I am feeding 10 head of milch cows and 35 head of young stock and feed to a profit. T'hey are now growing in winter as well as in summer. Before I got the silo and silage feed they would fall back in winter what they gained in summer, but now I can keep them growing right along. Only one thing I am sorry for and that is I did not get one before. I cannot see why farmers are so slow about get- ting silos for [ think it one of the best inventions on the farm. The first year I filled my silo with 12 acres of corn, last fall it did not take quite.that much. Yours truly, GEO. H. BARNES, Huxley, Iowa. A NEIGHBOR LOOKED ON— THEN DID LIKEWISE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — The 12x30 silo I bought of you last February, 1909, came alright. Every piece was firstclass and it fit perfectly. I filled it on the 4th of September. It took seven acres of good corn. I fed 18 head of milch cows, 3 yearlings from the 20th of Sep- tember until now and my cows are looking fine, fifty per cent better than they looked last winter, when I fed all the hay they would eat and ten pounds of mill feed per head. Last winter I sold $400.00 worth of milk and it took the most of that to buy mill feed. This winter I have sold $600.00 worth of milk and haven't got my check for March. I fed some mill feed this winter. One of my neighbors laughed at me for building my silo. He said one year would do me. He saw my cows when I began feeding silage and he knew how much milk I have sold this winter and he knows how my cows looked last winter and now he is going to buy an Indiana Silo. That is what my neighbor says now. Yours very truly, HARRY DOBBS, Herrick, 111. TEN HEAD ON TEN ACRES WITH SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — The 10x20 silo I received from you two years ago has proved itself satisfactory in all respects. I have ten acres of land. Since I got your silo I can keep five milk cows, calves and a couple of yearlings. Before I fed silage I could hardly keep three cows. My cows have increased each 75 per cent in milking since I fed silage. The silo is as good as the day it was put up. It has not decayed any. I think an Indiana Silo will keep as long as any other building if properly taken care of. Yours truly, S. O. ANDERSON, Stone City, Iowa. FIVE OF HIS NEIGHBORS SAW THE ADVANTAGE AND BOUGHT SILOS. Indiana Silo Co., Andkrson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I installed one of your silos three years ago, having filled it three seasons and' I regard it as indispensable to dairymen and caltle feeders, as it not only affords the cheapest succulent feed, but by its use one can save crops other than corn regardless of wet weather. After feeding silage the first season my cattle came through the winter in such excellent condition that five of my neighbors who saw them bought your silos and are now using them. My silo after three years use is as good as new. As to the profits from feeding silage you can say it maintains the flow of milk wonderfully and last year at May 1st we run out of silage and notwithstanding that we fed more concentrates and that the cows had some grass the herd of thirteen cows, the total number, fell off eight gallons per day and I figure I lost $39.68 in the one month from being out of silage. Am enclosing photo which kindly return and also send me book of articles. Respectfully, H. C. GIBSON. Crestwood, Ky. 153 ENSILAGE FOR SHEEP. l.M>iANA Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I have been feeding ensilage to sheep four years and find it a very satisfactory food. The ewes are very greedy for it, eating the entiro plant, stock, blade, busk, corn and cob, when fed not to exceed two pounds per head per day. We have the lambs dropped early in Feb- ruary and March. The ewes give a good flow ol milk and we have never J. E. Orebaugh's Delaine Yearlings Wintered on S.iage; Sheared l6'/2 Lbs. had any trouble with lamb cholera, as frequently occurs when turning ewos and lambs from dry feed to fresh spring pasture. Our sheep are registered Delaines and the rams shown are great fel- lows for ensilage. Sincerely yours, J. E. OREBAUGH, Wilmington, Ohio. P. S.— "Sure Mike," ours is an INDIANA SILO. ONCE AGAIN AS MUCH MILK WITH SILO. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I would be very glad to show you the picture of my silo, but I can't, it is in the barn. I can say the silo is a dandy. I don't think there is anything better that will beat the silo. I had a silo but I wish I had another one 14x20 so I could feed the whole year around. The silage is very good for milking cows. I have had once again as much milk since I have had a silo than when T had none. The silage is very good for cattle, sheep and pigs. The silo saves me a great deal of work. I had no trouble in putting this silo together. The lumber in it is No. 1, in fact, you have treated me well. Wishing you good luck in your work, I remain, yours very truly, MARTIN BASTIAN, Brillion, Wis. CATTLE QUIT GROUND FEED FOR SILAGE. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — The Long Leaf Yellow Pine Silo I bought of your agent at the State Fair, Louisville, Ky., September, , was deliv- ered promptly and with the help of farm hands was erected with ease. Every piece was first class material and fitted perfectly and when completed was very neat and attractive. It being the first silo built in the county was quite attractive to many of my visitors and quite a number will be built in this county the coming season. I began filling ,my silo in three days after it reached my farm with corn — filling it half full and the remaining half I filled with Sorghum cane and a better feed could not be obtained from farm products than I fed from my silo. I began feeding ensilage Nov. 15th to twenty (20) head of dairy- cows and twenty (20) head of stock cattle. My cattle would quit eat- ing any kind of ground food for ensilage. There is no loss in feeding from the silo. For the dairyman or cattle raiser the silo is the key to success, handy and always ready to feed from. Ensilage is the most essential of all prepared feed. I have saved during the time at least one-half of the grain feed and have had better results from my cows during the winter than I ever had before. My cows improved in flesh and milk from the time I began feeding ensilage. I finished my silo feed April 15th and my cows failed from the last feed. Only wish for more ensilage. I could not afford to do without a silo if I had to buy one each season. Will place my order with you for another one this season. Wishing you a continued success, I am as ever, your friend, JAMES A. BURRES, Valley Stock Farm, Leitchfielcl, Ky. A THIRD MORE MILK ON ENSILAGE THAN ON DRY FEED. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen:- — I purchased a silo of the Indiana Silo Company for' my dairy cows and flock of sheep and am well satisfied with the results for both. In the first place ensilage is much more digestible than hard corn so that it does so much more good towards producing milk and keeps the stock in good condition and no prepared food is required. Before I put up my silo I dug four feet in the ground and started foundation and dug out middle and made solid cement bottom and sides and thereby got 28 feet space out of a 24 foot silo. It cost me $18.25 to get it filled, besides swapping work with some of the neighbors and paying the cutters and got 112 tons of good ensilage. It would have cost that much to hire the corn gathered and left fodder in the field and it is claimed that the fodder is worth as much as the corn. So I think I gained at least $15.00 in that way. And then more milk is produced, the cows give one-third more milk on ensilage than on dry feed. I send on an average of 2,700 lbs of milk per month and counting one-third gain would be 900 lbs. or $12.82. Sheep do well on it, they like the soft corn it contains and when the big snow was on 17 inches deep they were kept in the barn and had no other kind of feed for over two weeks except some clover hay and they seemed to thrive on it. I, also, give some to my hogs occasionally in cold weather they like it and serves the place of grass or clover. Now comparing it with shredded fodder there are so many hard parts of the stalk in it that the cows do not eat and we have to throw out whereas in the ensilage all parts are soft and palatable that they eat it all up clean and thereby save all of it. Well, I believe that is all I think of now but there are doubtless other benefits of the silo. WILLIAM H. COOK, Mooresville, Ind. SILOS AS MONEY MAKERS. I.\DiA.\A Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen:— The silo I bought from your agent in 1908 is making big money tor me. My herd averaged 5,025 lbs. more milk for the six winter mouths when I fed silage than they did the winter before without the silage and the same amount of cows. I fed an average of 30 lbs. less Filling Joseph Alenbrock's Silo, Effington, Hi. grain a day, a saving of 44c a day, and my cows are in better shape than they were a few years ago. Will recommend any farmer and dairyman who is in need of a silo to the Indiana Silo Company, and to buy their silo. You will get a first class silo. This is the photo of my .-^ilo. Yours truly, JOSEPH AULENBROCK. Effingham, 111. Indiana Siix> Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — In answer to your inquiry for profits made in using an Indiana Silo I can't tell with exactness, yet can give a pretty close guess. I think I have at least realized 27 per cent more gain over the non-silo way on the same amount of land worked up in ensilage, and my corn got dried up very badly before I could get it put in the silo. As many know, last year the weather was such that the corn just dried up in so; short a time that it took some of us unawares. I am so pleased with the results that I want to use more of the corn plant that way. It is so handy to get at to feed when it is stormy or snow is all over the ground. The cattle have not missed a feed and cows kept right on giving milk; did not shrink but very little the coldest weather we had and this has been an exceptionally cold winter. I did not feed any ensilage to hogs, but they followed the cattle and it seemed to do them good, as they grew very fast and were admired by all passersby. Here it is, all in a nut shell. Feed ensilage to the cow with bran and what other feed she needs, get plenty of milk; feed the skim milk to pigs, sell butter, return the manure to the land and raise more corn to raise into ensilage. I have never covered two-thirds as much ground as with manure that was made from the silo. Gave some bran and hay to cattle and plenty of straw bedding, and you 156 bet I have had a job hauliug manure. I dou't get too much of ;that com- modity on my farm, as the time is not very far away when the owners of a well fertilized farm will have one of the best assets that I know of. Yours truly, J. A. BROYLES, Clay City, 111. Indiana Silo Co., Anderson, Ind. Gentlemen: — As I am an Indiana Silo man, would say that it is a fine thing to have, and makes the very best of feed. Makes more milk and better looking cows and I wish to say this that we never had any trouble with our cows cleaning at calving time, and I did before, and the first year that I filled my silo I put in two loads of sweet corn on trial and it was so good that we put in a good deal more the next year. I think if every- body knew how good the feed was they would have one instead of haying it on marshes and on shares. I must close, hoping you will weigh this for what it is worth. I would say that I have moved to Redgranite now and my son will work the farm. Yours truly, JAS. McBRAIR, Redgranite, Wis. PROFIT ON SMALL SILO OVER $400.00. Indiana Silo Co., Andekson, Ind. Gentlemen: — I received your letter wishing me to state the results I had received from using the silo. I will say this in regard to the silo. We have fed since November 1st, 1909, 22 head of cows and four horses on the same amount of hay and less corn than I fed to six cows and three horses one year ago. One year ago I sold my milk from October 29, 1908, to March 1, 1909, and received from the six cows $115.74 and sold two calves bringing $13.00, making a total of $128.74, and bought of concentrated feed $30.00, leaving me a balance of $98.74. Did not keep any hogs. This last winter since November 1, 1909, to February 24, 1910, we sold cream, $438.35; calves, $40.00, and hogs, $169.06, making a total of $647.41. We bought concentrated feed, $129.84, leaving a balance of $517.57. The $129.84 paid for feed includes the hog feed bought. After using the silo and obtaining such good results I do not see why dairymen are so backward and afraid to invest their money in a silo. February 23, 1910, I bought out Ridley's interest here and since that time have been feeding 10 cows and have ensilage enough to feed about three weeks yet. Yours truly, EDSON L. CUMMINS, South Haven, Mich. STATE OF INDIANA, ) County of Madison, I I, Wm. M. Swain, President of the Indiana Silo Company, of Anderson, Indiana, being first duly sworn, upon my oath say: That the foregoing letters, written to the Indiana Silo Company by the persons signing same, to the best of my knowledge, are true and correct copies of the letters received by said Silo Company; that no alterations have been made in any of these letters except minor changes of punctuation and spelling. WM. M. SWAIN. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 15th day of October, 1910. BERTRAM C. TAMLIN. Notary Public. My commission expires March 19th, 1911. 168 Copyright 1910. by Indiana Silo Co All rights reserved. HERALD PUBLISHINGco ^.FINt PRINTING >^ ^rxmwm^ , One copy del. to Cat. Div. {}&: M '»S'iO DEC 17 ?S10 IWSI,.?'^ CO'^GRESS^ 002 766 172 5 SILO PROFITS WRITTEN BY 200 OF THE BEST FARMERS IN AMERICA